10p all over again

One of the bizarre features of the row over the abolition of the 10p tax rate was Gordon Brown's initial refusal to admit that anyone at all would be worse off! It was certainly true that there were other budget measures (eg changes to tax credits and winter fuel payments) which meant that the effects of the 10p rate change were mitigated for some people, but it was never remotely true that no-one would be worse off.

Amazingly, we seem to be having a repeat of the same phenomenon over the changes to Vehicle Excise Duty due to come in in 2009. Initially the Treasury seemed to be making out that the losers were modest in number, but now in an unintentionally informative written answer they have admitted that 45% of the drivers on our roads are going to be out of pocket, and not just those who drive 'gas-guzzlers'.

There is a perfectly valid debate to be had about tax reform, and sometimes generally desirable changes do create losers, but the Prime Minister does not foster rational debate when he introduces changes which can leave millions out of pocket but pretends that no-one is going to be any worse off!