No one likes paying tax. Businesses particularly dislike paying tax because the way taxes are collected is so unbusinesslike.

Needlessly complex systems impose huge administrative burdens on both taxpayers and tax collectors.

A flat rate tax would save both parties time and money.

Although there might be political difficulties, and transitional arrangements would themselves be complicated, abolishing loopholes and replacing all income and corporate taxes with a flat rate value added tax on all personal and corporate income, would be far more efficient than most current systems:

1   Tax liability would be easy to predict, which would assist business planning

2   Evasion would be harder, because everyone in the chain would check everyone else, as they do with value added tax on sales

3   The system would be transparent, because everyone would know what the government was collecting, and there would be no scope for “stealth taxes”

4   Government would spend less on administration and so would not have to collect so much

5   Business would spend less on administration and so would have more to invest in expansion, which would increase the tax base

6   Tax yields would therefore go up

7   The system would be fairer, because there would be less scope for the super-rich to use the sort of loopholes only they can afford

8   Possibly most important of all, business would not have the hassle and waste of time of complex dealings with the tax authorities, and entrepreneurs could focus their energy and attention on business.