Tax one to know one

The autumn party conference season inevitably brings the issues of tax to the forefront of the political agenda, and this year looks set to be no exception.

The Liberal Democract sessions heard repeats of the calls to hang onto the 50p top rate of tax for those earning over £150,000, which is likely to be echoed at the upcoming Labour Party gathering. By contrast, Chancellor George Osborne has been facing calls from his own party and pro-market economist to cut the rate to encourage entrepreneurs and growth. This early in the economic cycle, it seems likely the 50p rate will go until at least 2013. There is as much a case to reduce VAT, which benefits a wider proportion of the population, than the 380,000 who are estimated by HMRC to be ...