The direct tax structure of the UK has grown by continuous accretion since its principal elements were set out by Addington in 1803. The government has never undertaken a fundamental reappraisal of the basis of direct taxation: the Meade Report was an attempt to make up for this government...

Some recent attention has been given to the so called 'Laffer Curve'. This analysis begins from the observation that tax rates of zero and tax rates of one hundred per cent can both be expected to yield no government revenue. There is therefore a function relating tax revenue and tax rate-the...

The Inland Revenue must derive a certain degree of satisfaction from the fact that it took the City the best part of a week to appreciate that one of the more obscure sections of the 1982 Finance Bill had overnight ended its favourite pastime of bed and breakfasting-a most skilful exercise in...