Louis XIV’s Finance Minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, said the art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest number of feathers with the least amount of hissing.

As we approach 2021, the art of taxation becomes ever trickier. The pandemic has triggered an economic downturn at a time when governments now need to begin bolstering bolster depleted treasuries in the wake of huge redirection of public resource. This is a perfect storm for sign...