Coalition one year on: Who benefitted from a year of tax measures?

Since coming to power in May 2010, the coalition government has placed reforming the tax regime high on its agenda. In his emergency Budget of June 2010, Chancellor George Osborne unleashed a tough package of cuts and tax rises, saying "decisive" action was needed to tackle the nation's record debt. Capital gains tax jumped from 18% to 28% for higher rate taxpayers, and the Chancellor maintained the VAT rise to 20% from January 2011. However, in a sop to the business community, corporation tax was cut from 28% to 24% over the next four years, giving Britain the lowest rate of any m...