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We need more broadly-based and sustainable taxes; there’s no point getting hung up comparing what is proposed and where we are now – focus instead on what are the alternatives

IN 66 BC when Cicero described tax revenues as “the sinews of the state” it was understood that the primary function of tax systems was to fund government expenditure. Nowadays tax systems do much more – influencing behaviour, stimulating economic growth, creating a more equal society and shaping our response to urgent economic and societal challenges – at least one of the latter, climate change, was probably not a priority in Cicero’s time.