Yet another Treasury U-turn

The Telegraph has a nice report on Alistair Darling's latest U-turn, this time on the matter of taxing the foreign profits of UK based companies. You can read all the details in the Telegraph article but I reproduce here a handy list of Alistair Darling/Gordon Brown's recent U-turns:"

1 Fiscal rules: Treasury to reconsider Gordon Brown’s two closely watched borrowing rules.

2 2p fuel tax.

3 Abolition of the 10p rate of tax

4 Income shifting: Last December the Treasury announced plans to tackle “income shifting”, where family firms structure their affairs to minimise their tax bill. In the Budget it announced that the plans would be delayed until 2009.

5 Tax on non-doms: Darling used his first Pre-Budget Report to announce a new levy on non-domicile workers. After heavy criticism he was forced to write a letter to tax advisers “clarifying” his plans, effectively watering down the plans.

6 Capital Gains Tax: Alistair Darling surprised businesses last autumn by introducing a new flat-rate CGT of 18pc. In January, after uproar from businesses and entrepreneurs, he announced that the first £1m of any gains will be taxed at 10pc.

7 Foreign profits: This move effectively dilutes a number of the proposals laid out by the Treasury in relation to multinationals’ tax treatment."

Prudence is dead, as is consistency; all that is left is panic.