Rewarding and interesting as this job is (frequently seen on a par to that of a jet pilot or minor celebrity) my ego has not been unbruised by the notable lack of interest in my debut into the blogosphere, despite several scintillating articles and a Twitter campaign that would have left Stephen Fry sobbing into his keyboard.

I intend to use this newfound anonymity to full advantage, starting with my pre Summer Budget predictions!

Firstly, I see good news on the horizon for investors as those Stock Market and Eurobond capital losses will now be relieved at 40% or perhaps even 50% instead of the existing miserly 18%.

As an additional gesture of kindness the Clegaroons also intend to reduce the Capital Gains Tax exemption to reduce the trauma of seeing good tax relief go to waste, unused at the end of the tax year.

The Controlled Foreign Companies rules are also due for revision in my opinion, so the few multinationals that have been remiss enough not to have realised their profits in tax havens will not have to pay tax anyway. In the event that your company cannot obtain a Belizean work permit fear not – as the tax hacks are predicting a fall in the main rate of Corporation Tax from 28% to 25%.

However our friends the “Non Doms” don’t appear to be enjoying the same favour as companies, which is all a bit confusing when you’re talking about attracting inward investment! Currently an individual who has a non UK domicile doesn’t pay tax on their overseas income for their first seven years of residence in the UK but must pay £30,000 per year for the privilege thereafter. But maybe not for much longer say the jungle drums. For my money this looks a bit odd alongside the company rules and I’m sure this will be a subject for a “full and frank discussion” between our illustrious leaders.

Last but not least of course there’s VAT; will it go up? Well do fish swim I say, do bears romp in the woods? To these perplexing questions I am unsure of the answer but I bet that VAT goes up by at least 2.5%.

Anyway I’ve managed to reach the bottom of the page now and as you can only take so much fun I’m off to the Bullingdon, I hear it’s smashing!

Follow 22nd June Budget with live tweets at http://twitter.com/dbsellek

Download the Tax Return Aide-Mémoire here

But is that the stench of burning rubber from the spinning wheels of the new coalition government as they launch from the start line, or from a day one u turn that would give Mrs Thatcher whiplash?

In case you’re wondering what I’m on about this time, I am referring to the change of position on tax policy that we are now presented with, compared to the original manifesto pledges of the two members of our new coalition Government.

If the stories that are reaching the news wires today convert into statute, we have the following changes:

• No reversal of the employee National Insurance rise as pledged by the Conservatives  (although the commitment will still be honoured for businesses)
• No increase in the nil rate band of IHT
• No Lib Dem mansion Tax
• A rise in the rate of Capital Gains tax from 18% to 40%

In addition and to support the above, any pledges to attempt to control public borrowing through efficiency savings only have been dropped, paving the way for future tax rises of which VAT seems a very likely contender.

So while I may not have been able to predict the outcome of the election, at least I got one thing right and that was regardless of the outcome I wasn’t going to be any better off for it.

Oh well – at least we’re all in it together!

With the general election less than 24 hours away, it suddenly occurred to me that while a great deal has been written about tax and fiscal policy arising as a result of any one party forming a Government, very little has been said about what the tax landscape might look like in the event of a hung parliament.

Although the last time anyone had to consider this I was running around the play ground in short trousers, the simple answer to this would appear to be that all of the parties bicker and barter over decisions and policies until they all get fed up with it and call another election. But in the meanwhile some attempt will have to be made at running the country, so I have taken a little time to see what common ground exists in the manifestos of the three main parties that might form the basis of tax policy.

The first thing to catch my eye is that all parties are promising “fairness”, LOTS of fairness which in my experience is political code for you’re about to wave goodbye to more of your hard earned cash! To their credit the Lib Dem and Labour manifestos are more committal on the subject stating that taxes will rise whereas the Conservatives propose the reversal of the planned NIC rises and a package of measures to support small business, while trying to bring the country’s borrowing under control through efficiency savings.

While all parties have undertaken to find public sector efficiencies, the problem here, as any accountant will tell you, is that you can only go so far with cost cutting before you reach a point beyond which you can go no further and until UK Plc can trade its way out of the doldrums the only recourse a future Prime minister will have is to increase taxes.

Without putting myself or you the  reader through the ordeal of regurgitating all of the current figures on the economy and borrowing, let’s just say the problem is big (the biggest in fact since the last war) so any tax rises will have to be big. Although we have seen recent tax rises for the very wealthy this will not recover enough revenue to fix our problems and a very broad based tax rise in VAT, Income Tax or National Insurance will be necessary to raise the necessary cash.

It’s anyone’s guess of course, but for my money I would expect one of the first significant tax hikes to be an increase in the rate of VAT. This is because it has not been ruled out in any manifestos and could perceivably be sold to the electorate given it doesn’t apply to essential items such as food and children’s clothing etc, it doesn’t affect registered businesses who reclaim VAT and of course the consumer has no ability to avoid this tax.

What else awaits us will remain to be seen although it seems difficult to see how we will not be entering a period of austerity. In the interests of neutrality I wish all of the parties good luck – it looks like they’re going to need it!

Download the Tax Return Aide-Mémoire here