ABSTRACT
Changes within Britain due to the inertia of national history are just as great as cross-national differences caused by historical variations in the direction in which inertia moves particular countries. The persistence of diversity among national tax systems is the cross-national complement of the persistence of political inertia within a nation. The course of the British tax system since 1948 has been directed by political inertia. In Southern Europe and in France, the cultural tolerance for the evasion of income tax is so high that the tax system is designed to rely upon other measures with strong enough tax handles to prevent evasion. Income tax is generally favoured because it reflects the ability of people to pay. Taxation is the cost that citizens pay for receiving the benefits of government. Value added tax was adopted in Britain as a necessary condition of joining the European Community, a political imperative of the Prime Minister.
