• Cut taxes to 33% of national income. Taxes currently account for 37.5% of national income.

• Ensure that marginal tax rates do not exceed 30% and the personal tax allowance should rise to £10,000.

• Taxes on capital and labour income "disguised" as business taxes should be abolished and replaced with a tax on distributed income.

• Transaction, wealth and inheritance tax should be abolished.

• Consumption taxes should remain for the moment but transport taxes should be cut.

• Local authorities should raise half of their spending power from local taxes.

I'm in favour of simplifying the tax regime (it is genuinely ludicrous at the mo, largely due to Gordon Brown it has to be said) but I think the measures required to achieve it - keeping the current 'austerity measures' going until 2020 - would be completely unpalatable to large portions of the voting population, so it's very, very unlikely to ever happen.

The Tories plan is to keep this level of spending cuts going until 2015, at which point they hope things will have got better and they can give a little back, to perk up their chances of a second term. If they go into the next election saying "No, there's going to be another five years of this" that's a ruddy hard sell and no understatement.

i think we are going to have slightly more then another 5 years of austerity but i also believe that simplifying that tax system with a flat rate tax for all will attract businesses world wide including Europe to the UK which will create employment apart from the fact it will stop most (not all) tax evasion and make it far easier for small/medium companies.

Global action on tax evasion has largely failed
The most concerted global push ever undertaken against international tax evasion has failed to reverse the flow of funds to offshore financial centres, according to banking industry data.

Despite unprecedented action from political leaders, and a blizzard of bilateral co-operation treaties entered into by offshore centres, deposit data from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) shows bank accounts in tax havens still held $2.7tn (£1.7tn) last year – about the same amount as in 2007.

2) tax evasion can't be eradicated. It doesn't matter what your tax system is, people will try to evade it. You can say you want to take less of people's money, but unless you're taking none, some people will try to hide it from you.

Hitler

Can we shut this very silly thread now please?

So they have to get as much back by not shelling out for VAT as they pay in extra income taxes.

The 2020 Tax Commission proposals prioritise reducing marginal tax rates on labour and capital income. While reforms to VAT, such as moving to a simpler sales tax or broadening the base, could be worthwhile in theory, they should not be combined with a rate as high as it is now. Instead, proposed cuts are focused on Fuel Duty, which would be cut by 5p a litre, and Air Passenger Duty, which would be abolished.

Other consumption taxes need to stay for now, but transport taxes should be cut