RAPID RESPONSES
Spun up
[Re: Ken Livingstone is blameless in his tax planning, Wednesday]
Doug Richard makes some valid points, but the tenor of his article is misguided. The media is right to focus on hypocrisy wherever it spots it. Politicians are too ready to criticise individuals or companies, particularly if the story can be spun to indicate tax avoidance, which is not illegal. It is good, however, to see the accusers hoist by their own petard.
Richard Peirson
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A fraction of half
[Re: Good tax cuts drowned out by a series of silly errors, yesterday]
George Osborne said the 50p rate raised “at most a fraction of what we were told.” Who told him what, precisely, and are they still employed or being consulted? All the evidence of the Laffer curve, including that presented regularly by Allister Heath, from Sweden and elsewhere, pointed to exactly this outcome.
Ian Tanner