Taxation in the UK : A Commentary

The tax system in any one country is, as Sandford (2000, p. 3) reminds us, the product of an eclectic and sometimes even fortuitous amalgam of factors. “Historical circumstance, constitutions and legislative procedures, customs and cultures, lethargy and the costs of change, the effects of pressure groups, the influence of other countries and international groupings and agencies”, and even “the whim of a finance minister”, all play their part in shaping a country’s tax system as much as the identification and application of any supposedly sound economic policy drivers. The UK’s tax system is no exception