Why a flat tax is simpler:  The current system of 'progressive' taxation whereby higher earners are taxed a higher percentage of their income requires the identification and administration of multiple different tax brackets spanning the entire spectrum of earnings in a nation. This causes a number of problems. The brackets themselves may be largely arbitrary cut-off lines based around round numbers, with no real justification as to why one person increasing their earnings by as little as £1000 should lead to them suddenly being propelled to a new tax bracket, when the actual difference to their income is negligible in overall terms. Moreover, the administration of multiple tax brackets is incredibly complicated and difficult, requiring every taxpayer to record their income and expenditure (in order to try and qualify for tax exemptions and 'loopholes') in meticulous detail and then to properly express this on lengthy and complicated government forms, a process which can cause anger, frustration and alienation amongst taxpayers. [1] In order to try and prevent tax evasion, governments are consequently compelled to have large bureaucracies that oversee this process and comb through looking for fraud, a costly and lengthy process. This may be contrasted with a flat tax system by taking the example of taxes on salaries paid to employees by a company under both systems. In the status quo, a tax collector must be aware in detail of exactly what is being paid to whom in order to ensure that everyone declares their income truthfully, allowing them to be placed in the correct bracket. However, under a flat tax, a tax collector could simply withhold the fixed flat tax rate (for example 20%) of the total company's payroll without needing to know what was paid to whom, as every pound is taxed at the same rate and thus it does not matter what goes to whom. This would allow for a massive simplification of tax forms, and for the down-scaling of the costly government departments dedicated to administering the different tax brackets. Thus the simplicity of a flat tax is a significant advantage.  [1] The Economist Special Report “The case for flat taxes” The Economist. Apr 14th 2005.