Tax agendas of the main political parties

KEY POINTS

• The main political parties have widely differing views on how to set the tax agenda for the next five years.
• The general thrust is towards attacking tax evasion but also tax avoidance.
• The rate of corporation tax could go down (Conservatives) or up (everyone else).
• The income tax threshold is likely to rise while rates could go up or down depending on the election result.
• Stealth taxes could be the name of the game whoever wins.

At a superficial level British politics is easy. The Conservatives favour the wealthy but condescend to include the middle classes. By contrast the Labour party favours the poor also condescending to reach out to the middle classes. The Liberal Democrats are likely to fall somewhere in between...