9.9.05

Tories ponderam o sistema de "Flat Tax"

Flat tax scores highly on the age-old principles of good taxation, famously laid down by Adam Smith, who said that taxes should be efficient, transparent, simple and fair. They are easy to collect. The amounts charged are predictable. The burden on companies and individuals is low. The economic benefits follow: the deadweight cost of the tax system falls, competitiveness improves, and incentives to work increase as you keep more of your earnings. The result is that tax revenues can remain surprisingly buoyant even as tax rates fall. (...)

The lessons of the flat-tax revolution are clear. The first is that tax codes do not have to be complex.(...)Instead of micro-managing and failing to deliver, we should simplify, reduce complexity, and make taxes fair again.(...)The second flat-tax lesson is that lower taxes help encourage investment and enterprise.(...)Lower taxes help create an environment in which business and wealth-creation flourish, generating additional revenues for the government.(...)Of course, the Treasury cannot bank on these additional revenues and must proceed in a way that does not jeopardise the public finances.