Bowman and Westlake’s policy ideas are perfectly compatible with this end, but pitching them as a city and town agenda risks creating a false impression.
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 Government should abolish stamp duty entirely for all purchases of a main home under £500,000.
The former Universities Minister revives his tax-cutting plan from the earlier stages of this leadership contest.
That means easing onerous planning restrictions and ending George Osborne’s misguided crackdown on buy-to-let landlords.
The Chancellor has been fortunate that the public finances have improved substantially at a particularly convenient time.
It is the spending that needs to be controlled and reduced, rather than taxes increased yet further.
The tax take is at its highest ever, and yet the Government is looking at ways to raise yet more taxes.
The Conservatives are not going to win the hearts and minds of the British people by proposing Labour-lite policies. There must be something different on offer.
In the post-leave springtime, it will be worth considering what would happen if all three were abolished and replaced by a single Turnover Tax.
The final article in our series argues that while the primary focus should be deficit reduction, there may yet be room to make life a bit easier, particularly for the poorest.
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.
After our recent series asked ‘What should Tories tax?’, the Adam Smith Institute’s Head of Research kicks off a new mini-series seeking routes to lower taxes.
A Council Tax revaluation, and higher bands for higher value properties, would be an acceptable price to pay in return for the abolition of Stamp Duty, too.
The first piece of a series this week about what the Conservative Manifesto should look like.