This election is the first for years that there is agreement about the need for more public spending.
Part of this will come from very sensible borrowing for investment, but tax will also play a key role. Here there is likely to be a gulf between the main parties over their approach.
One place to start would be by targeting the extortionately low levels of tax the wealthy are paying on their assets. HMRC figures show that 9,000 of the richest people in the UK paid just £5.1 billion in tax on £33.7 billion capital gains income in the latest financial year. That’s an average tax rate of 14.8%, compared to the basic income tax rate of 20%, and a higher rate of 40%.
