We had thought that the Liberal Democrats’ proposal for a “mansion tax” had died but seemingly it has not. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, is pushing for a mansion tax to be introduced on properties worth more than £2million in this year’s Budget. This would apparently be on top of the Council Tax. Critics claim that poor widows would be driven from...

The Campaign as such cannot have a view on the subject of Scottish independence. However, Scotland, like many parts of the rest of the UK, is far from the main centres of population and suffers as a consequence from geographical disadvantage and the associated higher production costs. Businesses have the disadvantage of higher transport and other energy costs. These disadvantages are reflected in...

Ignore, dear reader, all the news of doom and gloom, because the good times are just around the corner. All talk to the contrary is nothing more than a diversion, because the Chancellor has firm plans to turn the country’s economy round. Our sleuth, who continues to avoid detection as a cleaner in the Treasury building, has sent us a copy of what, written in his own hand, looks like the Chancellor’s...

A scathing report from MPs questioning whether HM Revenue & Customs and its top officials are acting legally in the way they handle tax disputes and “sweetheart” deals with major companies started a furious row last night. The British tax system is broken and not fit for purpose. It was never more than a system of organised theft and a structure of fines and penalties for successfully...

The present EU squabble has, we would suggest, come about primarily because contemporary tax systems are not sufficiently robust. From an economic perspective, they are little more than a structure of fines and penalties for successfully engaging in legal economic activity. This sends a particular message to which people in different strata of society will respond so as to turn the situation to...

Now that the policies the Chancellor first thought to apply are failing to work as intended, he is adopting an incoherent collection of ad hoc measures. It is starting to look like a panic response. It is dangerous. We would not expect him to take steps to apply LVT as we would wish to see it. It is not in the Tory DNA. But the principles from which we are working would nevertheless point to a set...