Baldwin: ‘Perverse’ tax system means work doesn’t pay Britain's tax system contains "perverse" incentives and punishing levies that require reform, Harriett Baldwin, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, has warned. Pointing to "horrible cliff edges" in the current system, Ms Baldwin said only those earning over £250,000 could escape thresholds and levies that means some middle-class families face marginal tax rates of above 100%. The former Treasury Minister said there is a need “to make sure there aren't these very perverse incentives that really make it very unattractive to work.”