Pull the other one
Jeremy Hunt is at Davos and is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of some of the world’s most powerful and cynical bosses. He has told them that he is aiming to move the UK towards being a low tax economy like the USA, and that low tax economies have higher rates of growth.
The Tory government has, however, increased taxes in the UK to a post WW2 high, with very high tax increases, increasingly on wages, in the pipeline. He is therefore heading in the opposite direction to what he claims he is doing or at least wants to do.
How he can reduce the rate of tax rises is difficult to say, although they are bringing in a lot of money, more than the Treasury assumed, so he does have some room for manoeuvre. But reversing them altogether and bringing taxes down to the level the Tory party inherited is impossible, let alone getting to American levels.
As to the claim that low tax creates higher growth, there just isn’t any evidence that it is true. In fact there are plenty of countries with higher tax than the UK that are much richer than the UK, with higher growth and productivity too.
It is just a Tory fantasy and a lie, one that allows them to always cut taxes for the rich and claim that trickle down economics will work, finally, this time, honestly.
As the LSE said in a report on Trussenomics “Other countries, including France, Germany, and Canada have higher taxation than the UK, but also higher productivity, faster growth and less inequality.”
The Chancellor is repeating the old trick, claiming that low taxes are good for you and for the country. Voting Tory is therefore not an act of damaging selfishness.
It has worked very well for right wing parties for a very long time, but it is not only cynical it is also a lie; it is also amazingly damaging for the country and the vast majority of people.
Average people in German and French and many other countries are much wealthier than those in the UK, how did they get there with higher taxes? Why aren’t we richer than them after 40 plus years of Thatcherism?
Don’t ask the Chancellor, he has no idea.
On another note I think that I have managed to set up Substack’s payment system so that existing readers are not charged and anyone new or old can pay something if they want to.
If not or there are any problems please let me know and I will try again.
Thanks for reading my blog.
https://buy.stripe.com/7sIcMM11Jfat1ji144
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.
By Jonty Bloom Media
And of course the real aim was to get it reported in the UK media, just like it was, without challenge or rebuttal. Just like it was.
Payment system seems to work fine - but looks like only for one off payments; a monthly arrangement would be better (for me, anyway). Best wishes