Electric Train(er)

Taxing times for the nation

It's not often I get to feel smug - at least not with justification.

I've been mesmerised by the sudden realisation throughout the land that Gordon Brown effectively doubled the starting rate of tax in the 2007 budget.

Doubled?? Surely you mean "abolished"? Well don't get me started (again). I went through all that a year ago.

It amazes me that almost no one saw this tax change as a problem a year ago. Even my most fiscally challenged trainees can spot this during our business skills training.

I have no time for Labour MPs who are suddenly feeling rebellious. Last year they either didn't realise their Chancellor was pulling a fast one, or if they did realise, they thought they could keep it under the carpet.

Either way they look less than in touch with the reality of their constituents, and at worst highly cynical.

But that was before the election that never was, and plummeting approval ratings. Now some Labour MPs are worried about their seats. Surprise surprise.

As Polly Toynbee writes today, the problem is that people don't seem to perceive a need for taxes at all. Although I don't agree that New Labour never made the case for tax increases. Tony Blair did that in 1997, saying you had to pay for the services you want.

Perhaps a bit of honesty on taxes - and some fairness - is long overdue. And perhaps more journalists need to cover taxation stories in ways that make sense to their audience.

Alan Johnston Freed!

It's rare to wake up to the Radio 4 news and be overjoyed at the first words you hear. The end of Alan Johnston's ordeal is good news in anybody's book.

Cynics will argue that any Brit who works in Gaza is asking to be kidnapped. But that misses the point. The respect shown towards Alan Johnston by Palestinians as well as others around the world demonstrates that professionalism and calm impartiality are a tremendously powerful force.

It will be interesting to see whether the international attitude to Hamas changes as a result of its role in Alan Johnston's release. Nothing will happen quickly, but this could be a catalyst.

Fascinating too to hear his abductors described in reports as one of Gaza's 'criminal clan'. That echoes (co-incidentally I suspect) the change in terminology from the Brown government following last week's incidents in London and Glasgow.

Suddenly it feels like we're trying to tackle common criminals rather than wage a war on some kind of -ism. Personally I feel more comfortable with the new approach.

New Year Greetings

Happy new year!

As another April 6th flies past more people are slowly waking up to the fact that Gordon Brown pulled a fast one on small companies in last month's budget. Big business gets a 2p cut in corporation tax. Small business gets a 3p rise in corporation tax. How's that meant to work?

I've been wondering why so many people missed it. David Cameron has been taunting Tony Blair about 'not seeming to realise that there were two types of corporation tax'. I get the distinct impression that he didn't realise either until one of his less well-off lackeys pointed it out some time in the week between the Budget and the next PMQs.

I'll admit it's a bit of a pain updating all our training materials following each Budget, but one of the pleasurable side effects for a news junkie like me is comparing the coverage in all the papers the day after.

Almost all talked about the 'abolition' of the starting rate of income tax - a phrase that the Treasury uses. Now in my version of English abolishing a tax is a thing to be celebrated. But in Treasury-speak abolishing the starting rate actually means turning it into the standard rate. This means doubling it - from 10% to 20%.

None of the broadsheets pointed this out in ways that you or I would understand. Which was the only paper to nail it? Step forward the Sun. And to prove it here's the clever - and remarkably simple - graphic they used.