Fascinating discussion last night with my friends. One of them has the theory that tax should be a completely flat rate. The same for everyone. No grades. then if you earn more you pay more. If you earn less you pay less. An intriguing concept. Anyone got any thoughts on that one? It just deosn't seem right to me. I think there would have to be a higher tax allowance at the bottom for that to work. There is a basic level of income you need and in order to get enough taxes surely the government would have to put it higher than the basic rate now. Mike's point was that if the rich don't have so much of their money taken away in tax then they put it into the economy which helps the economy. It sounded mostly sensible but I still couldn't agree with it. I just don't think it makes for a fairer or better society. I think that probably stems from my philosophical standpoint on politics. Let me explain that...
When I was studying politics in the sixth form I came to the conclusion that an anarcho-syndcalist or communist society was ultimately the most FAIR and Christian. Unfortunately both systems were also fatally flawed in that they do not allow for the basic human falibility to desire some kind of ownership of something. We all have our favourite mug or spoon, even if they all LOOK the same. Also if you were an artist in such a society and you painted a picture it is YOURS by its very existence. There was no satisfactory resolution of that problem for me. So I resign myself to living in whatever political set up we happen to have and hope that we can imporve bits of it here and there. The Single Transferable Vote system would be a start but that's another story!!!
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