Tax

By James Purnell The Tories claimed they would tackle social breakdown through radical welfare reform and by rewarding marriage in the tax credit system. Now it is clear they would do neither. David Cameron defined his "central mission" as…

By Hopi Sen "Do We Need All This Regulation? Government claims that this regulation is all necessary. They seem to believe that without it banks could steal our money..." Conservative Economic Competitiveness Group, August 2007, p.59…

By Theo Blackwell Perhaps it's the wrong time to suggest that we learn something about financial regulation from the United States. Maybe so, but it's worth pointing out that rather angry lawmakers in the U.S. Congress have taken the…

By Will Straw David Cameron's big speech today was based on a false premise. Having set this out he offered virtually no "concrete steps" to address it aside from cutting tax credits. The speech started with Cameron's view of the problem…

By John Gray Okay, he didn't quite say this but here is a great post by former Senior Pension Policy officer at the TUC Tom Powdrill, about the "suggestion" by Labour Treasury Minister, Paul Myners, that trade unions should be involved in…

By John Cowan With the Easter Holidays coming up, my thoughts turn to the problems faced by parents on low incomes over holiday periods. Children are expensive enough at any time of year but for a family on a low income, holidays present…

By Angela Eagle, Treasury Minister This Labour Government has been clear that we want to support people in difficult times - a VAT cut that put money in the economy quickly and is helping both sides of the till, increasing child benefit…

By Nisreen Malik No woman goes into the City expecting an easy time of it. The hours are obscene, the political manoeuvrings ubiquitous and you are always in a minority. The higher up the corporate ladder a woman goes, the more other women…

By Eduard Bernstein In recent weeks the Taxpayers' Alliance has suddenly found itself under fire, and it is plain they don't like it. But I think it wrong to see them as some sort of shady conspiracy, or even as a trojan horse for PFI…

By Richard Lane This week the government stepped tentatively away from earlier indications that it might retrospectively change the law to deny Sir Fred Goodwin his vast pension pot of almost £17m. Lawyers have already stated that the…

By Lucy Powell The strength of public feeling in support of post offices has showed how much care the government needs to take to ensure policies support rather than undermine people's strong sense of attachment to their local community…

By Mike Ion Ten years ago, a legally binding minimum rate of pay was introduced in Britain for the first time. Back in 1999, all adults had to be paid at least £3.60 an hour and workers under the age of 22 were entitled to get no less than…