The end is nigh for taxing times

From Czech lands to Australia, from Germany to the US, governments across the world are cutting taxes in a remarkable revival of economic liberalism. With the glaring exception of Britain, where chancellor Gordon Brown is busily hiking taxes, marginal taxes are tumbling at a speed which would have made the most ardent supporter of 1980s-style Reaganomics proud.
Even the French president, Jacques Chirac, has pledged to trim income taxes further to kick start growth after cutting the overall tax burden by 0.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) last year.
Seemingly utterly oblivious to the new global trend towards lower marginal tax rates, Brown’s one percentage point increase in national insurance contributions took the effective higher rate of individual income tax to 41% in the UK earlier this year.
· Marginal Rates [ ScotlandonSunday]