Sir James Mirrlees obituary

Nobel prizewinning economist who produced an influential 2010 review of the tax system that advocated fundamental reform

Probably the finest moment in the working life of Sir James Mirrlees came in 1968 when, he recalled, "I finally cracked the optimal tax problem " it came in a flash and was very satisfactory."

Mirrlees, who has died aged 82, arrived at his conclusions about taxation in the middle of Harold Wilson's government, when tax rates were as high as 80% and the Kinks wrote their famous anti-tax song Sunny Afternoon.