Is Hong Kong the flat taxer heaven?

What was the immigrants' standard of living before they came?

And if exploitation is all you have to do to become one of the richest places on Earth, why aren't many more countries doing it? There's plenty of people exploiting each other in Bangladesh, Somalia, and dozens of other countries that have remained dirt poor. Why have they remained dirt poor?

They were escaping Communism and expecting easy cushy lives. They were disappointed. Of course, if they stayed longer they wouldmove to better jobs. Now the situation is different as as the dirty work moved to mainland China. Quite a few people committed suiciode when Hong Kong reverted to China. Many of the factories in China are operated using inmates so the scandals with food poisoning is no surprise. Inmates have nothing to lose.

What does this have to do with a flat tax?

First a little of British history. For such a small island nation as Britain it was difficult to maintain the British Empire that stretched around the world. Australia, Canada and New Zealand were basically carbon copies of Britain so little maintenance were required for those colonies. However, the prize was India and there was a peaceful uprising led by one Mahatma Gandhi. The African colonies were difficult as they were also very hot in temperature that is. South Africa had the Boer War. After WWI, Britain ended up with troublesome Middle East real estate as well thus the Iraq problem after the breakup ofthe Ottoman Empire. In Asia, Singapore then a part of Malaya, Malaya, Burma were in the British Empire. In the Americas, Britain had Jamaica, Trinidad and various islands. It would take a huge manpower to develop a comprehensive taxation system for such a disparate empire and tiny Britain didn't have the manpower in addition to maintaining a military presence. Little colonies therefore were simplified with a simple taxation plan i.e. a fixed flat tax for Hong Kong and maybe even the Cayman Islands. There were no other taxes. Thus Hong Kong had the dubious distinction of having Japanese tourists coming to Hong Kong to buy expensive Japanese watches as they were cheaper here than in their homeland.

Hong Kong came into ints own after the war. The Korean war and the Vietnam War made it an R&R destination. 'The World of Suzie Wong' starring Bill Holden and Nancy Kwan is a reflection of the Vietnam War. 'Love is a Many Splendid Thing' also starring Bill Holden? and Jennifer Jones was filmed there as well as 'Ferry to Hong Kong' which starred Bill Holden and Kurt Jergens. 'Kill Bill' had some scenes in Kong as well as 'Lara Croft II'. Hollywood actor Bill Holden owned a radio station in called Commercial Radio and either a TV station or newspaper.