Tim Geithner, US treasury secretary, suggested there was little room for compromise on the Obama administration's plans to let tax cuts for wealthy Americans enacted under George W. Bush expire at the end of the year, saying even a delay until 2011 would hurt the economic recovery

Senior Democrats and Obama administration officials defended plans to let tax cuts for wealthy Americans enacted under George W. Bush expire at the end of the year, amid growing opposition from centrist members of the Democratic party

We are, as Richard Nixon once said, all Keynesians now. George Bush, Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and David Cameron are all backing tax cuts to boost economic growth. From Washington to Beijing, governments have decided that they need to do more than cut interest rates to end the global financial crisis. They need a looser fiscal policy too. In reality, John Maynard Keynes never saw tax cuts or incr...

Duncan argues that a wealth tax might be a good way of raising more revenue post-recession. There is a lot of discussion about how income tax is evaded and avoided. A wealth tax may well face the same problems - however it also offers the potential to tax accumulated wealth that may not have faced income tax. It also widens the tax burden to cover those who may have large amounts of assets but are...

Cash-strapped governments have long wanted to grab a bigger share of the wealth we hold in housing, now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says Britain should adopt a Continental European-style property tax. Pier Carlo Padoan, chief economist of the OECD, says George’s Osborne’s cuts are “appropriate,” but the Chancellor must do much

Extra tax rises or spending cuts of £20bn a year will be needed within three years because Treasury assumptions of economic growth are too optimistic, accountants say

David Cameron, the prime minister, has dismissed calls for Ed Balls for tax cuts, saying they would worsen the economic problems faced by Britain.

The Conservatives now have two whole policies: giving massive inheritance tax cuts to millionaires; offering tiny tax advantages for marriage*. But what values link these two ideas together? For example, Liberal Democrat plans to close tax loopholes for the richest, tax pollution and tax multi-million mansions will fund tax cuts of £700 for everyone on low and middle incomes (so you can make...

The Conservatives now have two whole policies: giving massive inheritance tax cuts to millionaires; giving tiny tax bribes for marriage*. But what values link these two ideas together? For example, Liberal Democrat plans to close tax loopholes for the richest, tax pollution and tax multi-million mansions will fund tax cuts of £700 for everyone on low and middle incomes (so you can make your ...

The Conservatives have obviously decided that George W Bush bashing plays well in Brent (or perhaps nationwide). In a pretty dreadful section on the economic crisis, their (seemingly competent) candidate's latest newsletter tells us that: The economic crisis is much worse in the UK than the rest of Europe. This is because Gordon Brown (like George W Bush in the US) failed to...