British tax system is in need of reform

The Palace of Westminster has seen better days. Wayward masonry falls with ever greater regularity forgotten corridors moulder and decades’ worth of antiquated wiring threatens to at any moment burst into flame. It is hard to imagine a more appropriate building for the UK’s tax system to have been devised in.

From council tax to National Insurance from VAT to environmental levies there are few corners of the British tax system that are not in urgent need of repair. With what is likely to be an election year on the horizon now is the time to look beneath the floorboards of that ramshackle structure and take stock of some of the horrors that lie beneath.

Housing taxation

A good place to start is housing taxation. Alarmingly council tax (which raises the considerable sum of £44bn a year) is still based on property values as...