Adam Smith Institute

First, there was the agricultural economy. Then capital became the key productive resource. But the driver of wealth-creation today is the talent and brainpower of individuals: we live in a People economy. And since people are both diverse and mobile, governments and social scientists now need to change the very way they think about job-creation, regional policy, taxation, social solidarity, welfare, and much more.

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A critique of what the author calls the 'dangerous delusions of corporate social responsibility and business ethics'. Should we ask more of our business people than that they conduct their affairs as openly and honestly as anyone else?

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Simpler Taxes is an indictment of the nation's tax system, which imposes huge costs upon the economy. If taxes were overt, people would realize the huge gap between what they are paying and the services they receive in return. Exploring how globalization and the Internet are making it ever more difficult to levy traditional taxation, Braestrup concludes that governments must, in effect, compete for the loyalty of their citizens with attractive tax regimes. His proposal for Britain is that complex and obscure taxes should be replaced by visible ones which are easy to understand, and whose rates are lower.

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With Party Political funding hitting the headlines (again), suggestions have been made for the State to contribute to campaign costs. Such calls are misguided. Confidence in the UK's political system can be restored through the provision of information about funds, rather than through costly, bureaucratic measures paid for by the unwilling taxpayer. This paper urged the Neill Committee to reject all forms of State subsidy and to avoid premature answers to an important question.

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Globalization and the Internet will discriminate against high tax and high spending governments, so believers in state power are now turning to international government to impose international controls. The choice is between the American model that creates a million new jobs a year, and the high tax, high unemployment model of the continent. Britain should set low, simple, transparent taxes and low regulation, which are the conditions that reward success and encourage investment and risk-taking. Britain should embrace globalization and all that it offers, instead of retreating into protectionism.

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