we spend too much time worrying about income tax, when it represents only a proportion of the tax we pay.

i'm fine with a flatter income tax, but what i really want is the following:
1. no personal tax operates at a marginal level greater than 50% (because I don't believe in punitive taxation - on success, or anything else)
2. all deciles on the income scale pay roughly the same in total taxation (~30% - which is what happens in Britain currently)
3. as a general principle, achieve this by taking low-income people out of taxation rather than redistributing back (moving away from Brown's tax-credit rats-nest)
4. be willing to accept that simplicity will result in some 'lumpiness' in the various deciles of income/status, and not try and finesse the result with more complexity