We must live in the world as it is, not as we would like it to be.

Some commentators are predicting ‘fiscal ruin’ following the huge deficits built up by Western governments.

There is no point in us whining about it. It is done and there is no undoing it now.

The real concern today is how it will impact on our businesses and whether there is anything we can do to mitigate that impact.

The inescapable arithmetic of the situation is that bigger deficits will, sooner or later, mean higher taxes – and the bigger the deficit and the longer the delay, the higher the taxes will be, as interest must be paid.

Those taxes will fall disproportionately on business.

Politicians prefer taxes for which most voters do not sign the cheques.

Of course, the voters, in their role as customers and investors, pay all business taxes in the end – but because they do not sign the cheques, they do not know how much they are really paying.

These taxes drive business out. This begins a vicious circle: high business taxes reduce the tax base, so taxes rise further, so the tax base is reduced even more...

Plus, if the increased cost burden of higher taxes was not enough, the inhibited economic growth that also results from both the higher taxes and the reduced spending needed to bring the deficits under control, will mean lower sales, and thus less revenue and less profits, for the beleaguered businesses that find themselves in such jurisdictions.

Against this, the individual entrepreneur can do nothing – except, perhaps, vote with his feet and emigrate.