A topsy-turvy world

Just back from the Chamber of the House of Commons listening to Alistair Darling do his first 'pre-Budget statement'. Most striking was the immediate 'damage limitation' of a big hike in the inheritance tax threshold for couples, which will eventually rise to £700,000. Given that six months ago they thought a threshold of just over £300,000 was enough, it's not hard to guess what changed! He also announced (after five years of dithering) tighter tax rules on 'non-domiciles' - ie people who live here but earn some of their money abroad and don't pay UK tax on their foreign earnings. After saying in Parliamentary answers that the Treasury didn't know the figures for these people, they' ve myseteriously become very well-informed about them!

This really is a shocking way to run a country. You make major changes to a tax in a matter of days not because you think it's right but because another party got good poll ratings for their proposals. You spend years refusing to answer questions to MPs about a subject and then make knee-jerk policy on it almost over-night. It's not surprising people are cynical!