This week's opinion: 28 July 2022

It is clear that tax is going to be an area of controversy in the Tory leadership election. Readers would not expect Taxation to take sides in the contest and we certainly won’t be doing so although we may publish some non-partisan analysis of the candidates’ tax proposals. 

But I want to mention one important issue. One candidate has proposed a radical change to the taxation of families under which households could be treated as single tax entities. There are strong arguments on both sides. Some will agree that we need a coherent approach to this given the problems with the high income child benefit charge. Others will say that it is a fundamental betrayal of the principle of independent taxation. 

What worries me is how a new policy would be implemented. We know that the current limited ability for spouses/civil partners to transfer part of the...