Lessons from the bank levy

I told my three children that for every day they didn’t keep their rooms tidy I would take 11.9p out of their pocket money. Maximum untidiness would give me £2.50 a week. They responded to the incentive: they tidied their rooms four days a week. But I still quite fancied the £2.50 so I changed the rules to take 27.8p out of their pocket money for each untidy day. My children hate me and want to leave home.

The bank levy policy

At the birth of the bank levy on 1 January 2011 financial secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban announced:

‘The levy which comes into force today means that banks will now make a full and fair contribution in respect...