Taxes, taxes, everywhere

What have obesity, misbehaving banks, unaffordable London housing and farting cows all got in common? They are all problems which, according to various campaigners over the past week or so, can be cured through the imposition of new taxes. Those calling for fiscal therapy included the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which suggested a 20 per cent levy on sugary drinks, the Liberal Democrats, who want wealthy home-owners to be subjected to a new mansion tax, and the Swedish Board of Agriculture, which wants a levy on meat to reduce methane production from livestock.

All these, of course, come on top of the EU’s proposed tax on financial transactions, the repeated attempts by elements in the British Medical Association for a tax on fatty foods, and the demands of Lib Dem activists this week for a tax on jewellery. The world, it seems, is full of budding Chancellors of the Exchequer, who dream of solving the world’s problems through ever more ingenious levies and charges.