The UK tax system is over-complicated, made more complicated under Gordon Brown's tenureship at the helm of the Treasury.

Labour tied itself and us in knots in trying to prove it was the party of low taxation by giving the low paid a 10% entry level to paying tax and then cruelly abolished it.

They slyly and nastily introduced the 50% top rate of tax to prove to their voters that they were not the party that believed in free enterprise and high earners (the donations were starting to dry up at that point, so nothing to lose) and then called a General Election to goad the Tories from opposition about being the party of the rich if they tried to bring the rate down.

Osborne and co duly tied themselves in knots to prove they weren't and came in for much criticism and opprobrium from Labour and, disappointingly, disingenuity from their Lib Dem coalition partners when they reduced the top rate to 45%.

Labour gave with one hand and took back with another. They taxed the low paid highly but then gave it back in tax credits.The tax offices couldn't cope with the complexities and families were being penalised by over and under-payments, which meant that some found themselves in genuine financial difficulty when they couldn't re-pay the over-payments.

There is another way.

Ukip believes in merging income tax and national insurance into a flat rate income tax to greatly simplify our tax code, which currently stands at over 11,000 pages.

At the last election we opted to merge 20% basic income tax with 11% national insurance to create a 31% flat tax on all earned incomes over £11,500. As a tax cut for all, with a higher threshold, it would also take the poorest paid out of income tax altogether.

It would also mean abolishing the existing 40% and 45% (50%) income tax brackets, the latter actually costing the economy rather than taking in revenue.

For employers, Ukip aims to abolish employers' national insurance across a parliament to end the tax on jobs. This will undoubtedly boost employment and simplify the process of employing people.

We can afford this. As one of the two largest contributors to the EU budget, Britain now gives £50million per day to Brussels. Dave may try to persuade you that over 50% of our trade is with the EU. But we actually have a trade deficit and have had for years. Yet we have a trade surplus with the rest of the world.

By coming out of the EU we can afford a low tax economy, benefiting our citizens and economy. And the businesses will come flocking to our shores with increased employment opportunities.

Follow Janice Atkinson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/janiceukip