Tax is a divisive subject but everyone seems to agree on one point: taxes are too complicated and should be simpler. Unfortunately, tax systems did not receive the memo.
In the UK only a few years ago, almost everyone in work used to be taxed at a marginal rate of either 31 per cent or 41 per cent, depending on how much they earned. (If Brits do not recognise those numbers, it is because the UK has two cumulative systems of income tax, one of which goes by the code name of “national insurance”.)
The system is trickier today than Martian algebra. Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal studies points out that, over different levels of income, a non-working spouse with two children will be taxed at marginal rates of 12 per cent, 32 per cent, infinity, 42 per cent, 60 per cent, 42 per cent, 60 per cent, 42 per cent and 47 per cent. You might ask what kind of muppet designed a tax schedule like that, and one answer would be George Osborne, chancellor of the exchequer, and Alistair Darling, his predecessor – the last two men to be in charge of the UK tax system.