it  It would be helpful if commentators could get their heads around that"  is this meant to be an explaination?  i'm sure commentators understand what he has said perfectly well.  lets look at it   the basic premise is that the more money made by a business - the higher the earnings - the more it will sell for.  i don't think anyone would question that.  the 2nd statement is if a business hadn't had to pay tax, it would have higher earnings.  again i don't think anyone would question that.  the question remaining is "so what?"  none of that has any bearing on whether the businss should pay tax each year nor wheter tax should be paid on the sale price of it when sold  but if we play about with gareth's statement some interesting questions arise.  eg if a business paid its' workers less it would have higher earnings and thus be worth more.  if it outsourced its labour to another country were workers get starvation wages (but we can console ourselves by noting the workers are actually better off than before when they had no work which i think is a real dilema) then the business is wirth more.  the business pays company taxes in the home country.  these are lower than personnal tax.  the reasoning for this includes that businesses bring all sorts of benefits to the country that it is 'located' in.  this needs looking at.  what are the benefits.  should we distinguish in tax rates