Replacing Canada's myriad income tax codes with a 15% flat tax would reduce the penalties on success, cut down paper work, and keep our tax system progressive.

One big idea that would increase prosperity for all Canadians is to reform our tax system by implementing a flat, 15 per cent income tax rate for both personal and business income, and eliminate Canada’s current four income tax rates with their myriad exemptions and loop holes.

Tax rates that increase as individuals earn more income through success, hard work, and entrepreneurship are powerful disincentives for these activities. A flat tax removes the tax penalties on success and would unleash the efforts of hardworking, creative, and entrepreneurial Canadians. Simplifying the tax code by eliminating nearly all deductions, exemptions, and credits that complicate the current tax system, would allow most tax filers to complete their tax returns on a post card-size form that could be filled out in about five minutes, thereby saving Canadian taxpayers’ money and making everyone’s taxes easier to calculate.

Finally, contrary to what some believe, a flat tax remains progressive, since progressivity simply means that the share of income one pays in taxes increases as one earns more income. To achieve progressivity, it is not necessary to have increasing personal income tax rates. A flat tax with a generous personal exemption (the amount of income that can be earned tax free) means that a much smaller portion of total income is subject to tax for lower income versus middle and upper income Canadians.