The famous 19th-century American poet and writer Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “I hate paying taxes. But I love the civilization they give me.” And indeed, over the last few centuries, as social contract theory took shape, taxes became its keystone.
In other words, the principle of “I give up part of my income so that the state will return its services and protection” still holds true. It works better in some places, worse in others, but almost no one questions it. Neither the US nor the UK, where the tax systems are among the oldest in the world—are similar in some ways, but in others they differ significantly. And today we’ll explore those differences.
