Don't forget the DOJ
I am very critical of a lot of the things the government in Hong Kong does. But they get the tax code right here.
Low rates (from 13% to 17%) with very few deductions but a fairly high minimum threshold. There are no employee deductions instead you write a check at the beginning of each tax year based on estimated income and any excess is refunded.
We actually pay more than we would in the US but the lack of intimidation, the clarity and simplicity of the law and the ease of obeying the law means we the taxes are less onerous. We don’t have to keep lots of receipts. There is no Capital Gains.
Excellent conclusion:President Obama has a dream of what the public sector represents. In his rhetoric, it is a shining expression of our togetherness. He might want to acquaint himself with the actual government over which he presides from such an Olympian distance, and adjust his enthusiasm accordingly.Or as “useful idiot" Russians used to say as they were given the bureaucratic runaround, “If only Comrade Stalin knew what was going on here.”
. . . but in fact he did know - because that was his system.