Is flat tax entering into the old Europe?

While flat tax gains momentum in the rest of the world, Germany and UK are the new European states to admit looking at this issue. It is almost impossible to imagine, but Germany may be one of the next countries to adopt a flat tax. The future Finance Minister (based on the predictions that CDU will regain power after more than a decade of Labour power) is a strong supporter of tax reform, and German taxpayers are disgusted by their country's complex tax regime. Paul Kirchhof, 62, seen by Merkel as a future finance minister, has called for the sweeping away of the country’s myriad allowances and multiple tax bands and their replacement by a single flat levy of just 25%. Similar schemes are widely credited with having kickstarted the economies of several of the former communist countries of eastern Europe.
The UK case is more of a hush hush thing! Accordingly, a secret report from U.K. Treasury admits flat tax is a good idea. Two stories from the Daily Telegraph reveal that a blacked-out Treasury report acknowledged major benefits if the United Kingdom adopted a flat tax. On the other side of the Atlantic, the US President's Advisory Panel may publicize a global flat tax revolution. Taking into account that the world is moving to the flat tax, and China and India may be among the next countries to hop on the bandwagon, it is expected that the US President Bush's tax reform panel will highlight this worldwide movement in next month's report.

Read more here:
Previous posts
Times
Telegraph