In addition to the broad question about the Chancellor’s political judgement, I think he faces three specific problems.
Ministers will be on much surer ground if they justify change on the basis of social habits.
The Chancellor’s team reportedly wants to cut it from 20 per cent to 19 per cent in 2023. Here’s why that wouldn’t be a good idea.
Plus: The Government will soon have to set out the tough decisions on public spending to constituents.
Any new system should direct incentives towards rewarding those who step down to retirement accommodation and those cared for by their descendants.
Finally, the television licence. The principle ought to be that those who wish to watch the BBC pay a fee and those who don’t watch it do not.
We need an overhaul to meet both the immediate challenges posed by Brexit and to maintain our global position as other countries start catching us up.
Perhaps the cost of dying all seems rather small fry, in relation to delivering Brexit by October 31. But there is likely to be a Budget ahead of the deadline.
Keep them low where possible; find the optimal point on the Laffer Curve; avoid taxes which are expensive to collect; and undo the harm of Stamp Duty and Inheritance Tax.
The Resolution Foundation’s new report is a serious piece of work, but its proposals to improve social care funding also bring political problems.
The second piece in our series on reducing taxes also argues that in the longer term we should seek to return to a two-rate Income Tax system.
Wanted: a grand bargain with voters, whereby some rises at the top end are traded off for others nearer the bottom.
In the first instalment of a three-part mini-series, Bright Blue’s senior research fellow explores how tax reform could rebalance the fiscal burden.
The Conservatives should think about the implications of what would happen if Labour got serious on this issue.