In The Times, Mayor Johnson's policing deputy writes:
Politicians will spend the next few weeks arguing endlessly about how much tax to charge, but hardly a word will be said about the method of extraction from your wallet or purse. Rather than arguing about "how much?" we should think about "how?".
Note that inclusive "or purse". His wife has a degree in gender studies, you know. He continues:
Because in the end, all tax, whatever it's called, comes out of that increasingly battered wallet or purse. Companies, for instance, don't actually pay tax, you pay it for them when you buy their goods or services; they just price in tax as another overhead. All that national insurance, corporation tax and even the income tax of their employees forms part of the price of everything you buy, with VAT on top.
So if all taxes, including VAT, form part of the price of the stuff we buy, why do we bother to charge and collect them separately? What would happen if we were to lump everything together, phase out all taxes and just charge higher VAT? Well, several things.
There follows a list, including a defence against objections that taxes on consumption hit the least wealthy hardest. He also mentions Bentleys and public transport, though there's no reference of what happens if you end road-related taxes. Kit's secret VAT plan to end congestion charging, shock? Well, he's never been terribly keen on it.
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