Tax needn’t be taxing but we have made it all the more so over the centuries

Governments foolishly agree that the harder you toil the more must be taken from you, finds Tim Flinn

Here’s the thing: a parent urges a child to work hard and do well. Action? Punish the successful child.

Here’s another: the country needs much more high-quality inward investment and talented workers. Action? Tax those who provide it.

Governments foolishly agree that the harder you toil the more must be taken from you. ‘Tax the rich until their pips squeak!’ demands the idealist, only to stare in bewilderment as those golden egg-laying geese fly away to more welcoming pastures. So who saddled us with this monstrous and vastly expensive imposition?

William Pitt introduced income tax to finance the Napoleonic wars. It was dropped after Waterloo only to be reintroduced by Peel in 1842 and has remained ever since. There are nine canons of taxation, Adam Smith having suggested the first four: all taxes should have equality, certainty, convenience and economy. However, the remaining five also fail to make the general point that virtues such as saving, investment and hard work should be encouraged and vices such as idleness, waste, excess, conspicuous consumption and greed penalised.

In fact HMRC has turned this principle on its head so while the rest of us groan under the burden, the very wealthy often manage to pay little or nothing. That offends natural justice because there would be no wealth without society enabling it and so society has a valid claim to a fair share. The law says that tax avoidance is legal but tax evasion is