# South China Morning Post: Other Countries Might Be Tempted to Adopt CBT



## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Cathy Holcombe writes an op-ed in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post arguing that more countries may be tempted to adopt the U.S. approach to income taxation -- and that some countries are at least drifting closer to the U.S. model.

I think she made one factual misstatement. Hungary is another member of the OECD that also has a (mild) CBT regime. That point aside, I think she's broadly correct on the politics and the current "zeitgeist." There's not a lot of tax sympathy right now for the world's highest income and wealthiest individuals who, in most cases, are as lightly taxed as they ever have been at least within the past several decades -- and wealthier than at any time in human history.

The point she makes about Italy, as an example, is an interesting one. I hadn't thought of it quite that way, but she's quite correct that Italy is one of the countries with a serious "brain drain" problem, quite unlike the United States. Is that problem one of the byproducts of a strict RBT regime? It could be!

That said, while I think she's spot on in terms of the global politics I also think there's ample opportunity to reduce tax and financial reporting complexity at least for those who are not among the top 0.1%.


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