Originally Posted by Osem

I think the argument goes that taxes on the rich minority, popular though they are with everyone else, don't actually raise that much and can be avoided in all manner of ways - legal and not so legal. Administering all this and trying to crack down on avoidance, evasion etc. costs a whole lot of time and money. I suppose it's similar to the argument which was always used for universal benefit like child benefit - even though some money goes to people who don't need it, a great deal more is saved because administering it is so much simpler.