National Insurance Contributions Bill

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who makes my point for me. In the light of his remarks, I urge my right hon. Friend the Minister to be very cautious about accepting the amendment. The judgment of what is reasonable in a tax regime—whether we are talking about retrospectivity, the level of a given tax or its very existence—is ultimately a political judgment, as many such things are. It is much more difficult to make that political judgment if one tries to step away from it by suggesting that in some fantasy world taxation, per se, is reasonable. Some people regard it as reasonable and some do not. Some people do not want to pay tax at all.