Tax IS taxing

The Gaurdianista glee being expressed around the 45% tax rate (and don't forget to add the NI) fails to recall that it was this very regime that gifted Broon and Darling the wherewithal to prance around declaring "there will be no boom and bust". Tax take went up as top rates came down.

The total amount this hike will produce is negligible anyway, thus clearly identifying the action as no more than spiteful political gesture, designed to appeal to the likes of Polly Toynbee and Mrs Marr. This is a typical Broon budget - long on fiddling in the margins and deceit, short on substantial and imaginative moves. And so utterly confusing that hardly anyone can agree on the net effects on the population. Gordon's "mini me" learned his trade from a master of obfuscation and blather.

Amidst the hand outs (attached to a piece of elastic) some magnificent stealth taxes were ushered in under the cloak of the 2.5% temporary VAT cut. Those excise "duty" offsets are permanent!

And now the lamentable Mervyn King is suggesting full nationalisation of the banks to force them to underwrite toxic loans!! Let's hope he has a cunning plan to flog off that toxic debt to some gullible foreigners.

TMP prays Cameron doesn't fumble this opportunity. Please may we have Ken Clark back on the front bench ASAP? Since Gordon's boom went bust, Clark is once again the most successful UK Chancellor still active in politics. He sorted it out last time, and he's one of the better chances we have to pull it off again.