A so-called mansion tax will not achieve fairness and the revenue gain will be modest March 6, 2012 LIBERAL Democrats are pushing for a mansion tax, in the form of an annual levy on houses worth over £2m. They claim this would raise significant funds for the Treasury, would “target” the super-rich and would be more economically efficient than taxing people’s incomes. It’s depressing that some consider it the function of the tax [...]
The US recovery wasn’t wrecked by massive cuts March 6, 2012 T HE ECONOMIC recovery in the United States is well underway. The trough of the recession was reached in the second quarter of 2009. Since then, real GDP has risen for ten successive quarters and now stands above its previous peak at the end of 2007. By any standards, the recession in America is over. [...]
The tax avoidance rule that favours cronyism March 6, 2012 WHAT may you do without being punished by the state? With 25,000 pages of new legislation every year, and many laws expressed in hopelessly vague language, no one can be sure. But there is a more straightforward reason we cannot know what will land us in trouble. The authorities might punish us even though we [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 6, 2012 Welfare despair [Re: War on Britain’s aspirational classes, yesterday] Britain is a welfare state where politicians build their careers stifling initiative, encouraging (or at least accepting) widespread benefit fraud and cutting traditional support networks like families and friendly societies. Why work in such a set-up? Changing this mindset would let us live fulfilled lives. I [...]
At home and abroad, we all need to be reminded of the moral virtues of capitalism March 5, 2012 I LOVE free market capitalism. The reason is simple: I hate famine, disease, misery, and oppression. I’m on a tour around the world to promote the liberating power of free-market capitalism. I’ve edited a book on the subject, The Morality of Capitalism, which is coming out in at least 16 languages. Last week I was [...]
Putting the UK in the black may be risky for Labour March 5, 2012 AN INTERESTING and important debate on fiscal policy is taking place on the left. It’s been described as “In the black Labour” and has been debated on the progressive website Policy Network. It’s about whether Labour should partly abandon its Keynesianism and go “fiscally conservative”. Its hardest advocates are sometimes called old Blairites, but the [...]
Fuel duty makes little sense as a carbon tax March 5, 2012 TOMORROW is National FairFuel Day, when people will lobby MPs to reduce duty on fuel. It’s a tricky issue for economists. Fuel duty demonstrates the standard economic response to a situation where social costs exceed private costs. If the price of a gallon of petrol fails to reflect the total cost of consuming such a [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 5, 2012 National interest [Re: Taxing homes more isn’t the answer, yesterday] If we have to sell the land from under our feet, let’s at least extract the maximum possible price from those willing to buy it. We haven’t exhausted the ability or desire of foreign nationals to pay for UK property. Not to extract the maximum price [...]
The rigour and discipline of classics foster the skills for success in business and life March 4, 2012 WHEN education ministers talk about the skills that business needs, their main focus usually seems to be vocational, especially the so-called Stem subjects: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Obviously, these are absolutely crucial, but the implication is that non-vocational subjects do not count. But all businesses need people with different skills to manage, develop, finance [...]
Insurance firms need regulators to pay attention March 4, 2012 PRUDENTIAL’S threat to quit the UK and move its headquarters to Asia isn’t a hollow one. There is a growing feeling in the City that British insurers are getting a raw deal from Solvency II, the new capital requirements that will soon govern the sector. There is wide acknowledgement that the UK regulator, the Financial [...]