... Some critics suggest that flat tax only works in smaller, less developed or transitional economies. It is true that its practitioners include several of the former communist states of Eastern Europe. But Hong Kong is by no means a less developed economy, nor is Russia a small one, and Hong Kong has had flat tax since 1948, Russia since 2001. China, no economic midget either, is considering the idea and it is attracting increased interest in the US... .... Population of HK is 6.5m, it nonetheless ranks as the world's 3rd largest financial center (after New York and London) the 9th largest economy and the 11th largest exporter of services. Growth rates in the 30 years preceding the onset of the Asian economic crisis in 1997 averaged 7% culminating in GDP per capita exceeding that of Britain, Canada and Australia.
