Firstly soontobe dont believe anything you read in the Telegraph about unfair taxation, and talent leaving the country; the paper is owned by famed tax dodging owners so they are not really going to report in a balanced manner. To my mind, the taxation system has been tinkered with and adjusted so much over the 200 years or so of its existence that it is no longer efficient, which is presumably the philosophy behind your initial question grannytwice? There have been some slight improvements in the working of the system, the RTI (Real Time Information) system now ensures that HMRC has up to date figures for PAYE earnings and thus working people in tax credits no longer have the worry of having to repay inadvertent overpayments at the end of the tax year. But, on a whole scheme basis, I think there has to be more transparency, more shaming of people like Phillip Green of Arcadia group who have their company incomes paid outside of the UK and thus dodge millions and millions of pounds in corporation taxes. The amount of tax unpaid/underpaid by corporations would go an awful long way to balancing the books, apart from the moral question. So, my plan if I was in charge of the taxation system would be public availability of figures showing what these corporations pay. Glad to see France are taking a stand by the way, they have just jailed a member of the Ninna Ricci perfume empire for tax dodging, details of which came out as part of the HMRC leaks. Sorry for the ramble, but I get very very angry about taxation and the unfairness of it all.