This is the last day of the 50p tax rate.<\/p>\n
In 2012\u00a0I estimated this should raise \u00a36.7 billion in revenue<\/a> if avoidance had not been given a chance to defeat it - as it was. I have never seen reason to change that estimate and the fact that HMRC admitted more than \u00a36 billion of avoidance took place <\/a>in the year it was\u00a0introduced\u00a0-\u00a0leaving\u00a0only a billion or so raised - seemed to\u00a0confirm\u00a0I was right.<\/p>\n Now these are estimates, of course. I know that. But the number\u00a0happened\u00a0to concur with the Treasury's own logic in 2009<\/a>. And to be candid, on this\u00a0occasion\u00a0I think they were right too.<\/p>\n Of course the whole tax has not been\u00a0foregone: the cut is to 45p, not back to 40p from whence the increase came, but the loss is still billions of\u00a0pounds\u00a0in\u00a0revenue\u00a0a year for absolutely no gain to\u00a0this\u00a0country at all, but at an\u00a0enormous\u00a0cost to many.<\/p>\n At\u00a0this\u00a0moment the justifications for this cut are\u00a0threadbare, and will\u00a0remain\u00a0so for a long time to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"