Too highly rated

Low tax being a key article of faith in any Tory philosophy, a 50 per cent rate, as Mr Brown well knew, would be deemed heretical by a Conservative government. But he also knew that David Cameron could not easily get rid of it without damaging his carefully cultivated credibility as a Tory leader who cared about the poor and dispossessed.

Nor, when considered alongside another part of Mr Brown’s toxic legacy – an enormous public-sector deficit – could the top rate be reduced without undermining the Conservative claim that “we are all in this together”.

However, as a man of Mr Brown’s professed financial acumen must also have known – and as 20 leading economists explained yesterday – a 50p rate would seriously damage the UK economy, making the country less attractive to foreign investors and skilled workers. Indeed, it cannot even be said that such a high rate brings in more money to the Treasury as those who are eligible for higher taxes tend to move their financial interests overseas, or find ever more ingenious ways of tax avoidance, rather than actually cough up.

Of course the top rate affects very few people, but the principle applies generally and, with Chancellor George Osborne searching desperately for a strategy that promotes growth, he should brave the disquiet of his coalition partners and state this openly. A low-tax economy is one that stimulates investment and growth, while a high-tax economy throttles these aims. It is time the Government decided which option it wants Britain to follow.