It’s the small, innocuous tax hikes that hit hardest

There was no shortage of tax developments this year, some good and some bad, writes

‘The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the most feathers with the least possible amount of hissing.’

This maxim of Colbert, finance minister to Louis XIV of France in the 17th century, is often trotted out when commenting on budget announcements and tax changes, but it seems there was much more to the man’s thinking.