Through a glass darkly on tax and spend ...

What have the recent party conferences told us about the tax policies of the three main political parties?

Ed Miliband has pitched for the mantle of one-nation politics. David Cameron has set out a more distinctively centre-right stall aimed at attracting the hard-working ‘strivers’ whose votes once carried Margaret Thatcher to office. Nick Clegg insists that the Liberal Democrats will stay the coalition course. The big political messages of the conference season were clear enough. But where was the policy ‘beef’?

We can be sure that tax and spending will remain front and centre of national political conversation up to and beyond the general election. But those hoping for enlightenment on the direction of tax policy have been sorely disappointed. The coalition has not made up its mind and Labour is playing the role of opportunistic...