Will anyone ever be able to cut the 45p tax rate?

Well, that went well. Kwasi Kwarteng’s decision to axe the 45 per cent top rate of income tax triggered a crash on the financial markets. It then ran into so much opposition from the public and from Conservative MPs fearful for their seats that it had to be scrapped completely. Right now, it seems unlikely that any politician will want to revisit the subject any time in the next two or three millennia. Abolishing Christmas would be less toxic. If they do, however, one point is surely clear: the 45 per cent rate is here to stay. The only way any politician will ever be able to scrap it now is by stealth.

For all the hullabaloo around the 45 per cent top rate of tax, it makes little sense for the economy. The tax only raised a trivial £2 billion a year or so and prevented the UK from being the lowest-taxed major economy in Europe. 

Getting rid of it might even raise more money.