Time to tax

In all the furore about Greece, the cuts, pensions etc., have we forgotten a key issue ?
This is the question of tax collection. certainly it has always been true that all 'successful' economies have efficient tax collection systems. Britain is among these countries. Greece, on the other hand, is notorious for tax evasion, especially among the wealthy. In Italy it is a national sport, and what price on tax evasion being an Olymic sport in Rio ?

The question we should now ask is - is the Government spending as much time and effort thinking about collecting more tax from those who evade and avoid as it is making cuts in public services and pensions etc ?

Without suggesting what solutions might work, I offer three ideas :

1. We could publish the amount of direct tax all British citizens (wherever they claim to live) and companies have paid (I wouldn't go as far as Norway where full tax returns are available on line). This would flush out the evaders.
2. Introduce more draconian tax laws, perhaps levying income tax on all citizens wherever they live and wherever they have earned their money (if one did this, any direct taxes paid in their country of domicile would be subtracted).
3. Introduce more tax collection 'at source'. It is clearly unequal that most people experience PAYE, wheres high earners are not taxed at source for various reasons.


Let's continue counting to three by identifying three consequences of widespread tax evasion or avoidance among the rich :

1. It is a clear moral issue.
2. It promotes inequality as it is the rich who are most efficient in avoiding tax and the poor who cannot (there are exceptions, notably in the building trade, but this is not on the same scale).
3. It has great economic consequences which are obvious, notably in cutting the budget deficit.

Time to look more closely at this issue, I think.