TL;DR - How is our tax system ever going to be 'fair'?
Just a quick comment to stir things up, but it amuses me that the politicians talk about a 'fair tax' regime. How is it fair that some people pay no tax, some pay 10% (if labour get to power), some pay 20%, some pay 40% and some pay 45-50%? How is that a fair tax system? To me, fair means that everyone is on a level playing field.
Controversial? Yes. Fair? Yes. Eveyone pays the same proportion of their earnings in tax.
Unfortunately, in the current climate, 'fair' really means that the rich pay proportionately more tax than the poor.
And before you start flaming a new poster for this, I actually think that those who earn more [i[should[/i] pay more in tax. It is how you would do it that makes it complicated. If our tax system was fair, there would be no loopholes for the rich to exploit (and actually pay less tax
in total than the lower paid workers), everyone would pay the same rate of tax and the government and workers would be better off.
The current system is so complicated that even the government doesn't understand how it works.
Now, back on topic...