The Contrarian Investor: Osborne's clever (?) politics at work

Negative reaction to Budget

Opinion polls suggested a mostly negative reaction to last week's Budget. It reinforced the impression the Chancellor is a follower of Blair and Clinton's philosophy of triangulation - tack to the centre by stealing the policies of both the right and the left.

Thus the left was ambushed by a sugary drinks tax, while the right was cock-a-hoop with the lower capital gains tax. Clever politics, perhaps (if you ignore Iain Duncan Smith's surprise resignation). But what is clear is the tax and accompanying tax wrapper system is becoming ever more complex and mystifying. Take ISAs. We now have the Lifetime ISA, which looks and feels like the future pensions system for the under-40s. Then there is the Junior ISA, the Innovative Finance ISA, the Cash ISA, the Stocks and Shares ISA, and the Help To Buy ISA. 'Pragmatic solution' or 'barrier to pen...