One of the vile things about the UK’s current taxation system is that it reaches so far down the income scale. So says Tim Worstall in an article in The Guardian, arguing that the statutory minimum wage should not be increased. Worstall pointed out that “it is possible to be working part-time on the minimum wage and be paying income tax. Indeed, a full-time worker who gets that pre-tax...

The government seems to have an unhappy knack of getting into a mess with property taxation. The latest wheeze is a tweaking of the Council Tax so that people who live in nice area pay more. Labour planning secret tax on ‘nice houses’

We do not usually find ourselves in agreement with the IMF, but we go along with their chief economist, Oliver Blanchard, in his criticism of Gordon Brown’s £12.5bn cut in VAT. Blanchard has dismissed it as “not a good idea”, warning that European governments faced a new Great Depression if their stimulus packages proved inadequate.

EMPLOYERS’ BURDEN OF TAX 2008/9 EMPLOYERS’ BURDEN OF TAX 2008/9 Tax Rates                     % of   Employers NI         Gross max a £0.00 — £5435.00 0% £0.00 b £5435.01 — no limit 12.8%               Employees NI           a £0.00 — £5435.00 0% £0.00 b £5435.01 — £40040.00 11% £3806.55 c £40040.01     1%               Income...