Minister declines to rule out possibility of new taxes
A minister has declined to rule out the possibility of new taxes, as Rachel Reeves is seeking to slash public spending in her Spring Statement.
The Chancellor will deliver a statement on March 26 in response to the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) watchdog.
It is expected that increased borrowing costs and weak economic growth mean that spending cuts are likely, in order to meet her commitments on managing the public finances.
Industry minister Sarah Jones said on Thursday that Ms Reeves will make decisions “in the national interest” but would not speculate on any decisions that could be coming.
Asked on Good Morning Britain whether the Government is considering any new taxes, Ms Jones said: “I’m not going to speculate. I’m sorry about that, on what the Chancellor may or may not do.”
Money
She added: “We know that we are waiting for the OBR, that we are looking at our spending, that we are investigating every penny that we spend in government, so that we are spending taxpayers’ money wisely.”
Asked again whether tax rises could be coming, Ms Jones said: “I’m not going to speculate on anything that may or may not come from the Chancellor. Those are her decisions to make, and she will make them in the national interest.”
The savings in the statement are expected to come from the welfare bill and a drive for greater efficiency across Whitehall.
Borrowing
The BBC reported earlier this week that the OBR was to put its proposals to the Government on Wednesday as part of the forecasting process.
A leaked early draft of the forecast indicates the watchdog is cutting its forecast for economic growth and the cost of Government borrowing will have been affected by the turbulence in the bond markets in January.
At the time of the Budget in October, the watchdog said Ms Reeves had £9.9 billion of headroom against her self-imposed rule to fund day-to-day spending through tax revenues rather than extra borrowing.
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The Labour party is tory in all but name. Their militarist neo liberal and monetarist doctrine ensures they act to rob the poorest and most vulnerable to protect or enhance the wealth of the well heeled and very rich.
There are many ways in which the Treasury coffers could be enhanced. A wealth tax, property tax etc etc. 1.4 million kids in the UK living below the poverty line is unacceptable. Scandalous for the fifth richest country in the world. Reeves should be sacked.
UK tax income mostly comes from income, NI and VAT (‘the big three’).
Contrary to what many people think, the UK doesn’t have as big wealth discrepancies as Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark; yet these countries manage public services well.
You could argue VAT, inheritance and CGT are already wealth taxes.A new tax would be incredibly bureaucratic, but in case, closing loop holes, tweaks to existing taxes (i.e. Jeremy Clarkson’s farm) could easily have the same impact of raising revenues
Simplify, simplify, simplify. Start by treating capital gains, gifts over £5k per year and dividends as income. Stop carrying forward losses. And set IHT over £1m at 100% because they don’t need it where they’re going.
The time has come, not even a year in to this governments’ time in office, to impose taxes in the right places and recover the stolen wealth which has been removed FROM the people and it must be recovered FOR ALL of the people. Trump is to blame for this and the broadest shoulders must bear the weight. The ‘ fun’ that privates have had at our expense ends NOW. This means that the tobacco money, as one example, I used to think went into government coffers but actually benefits far right (Trump supporting) media outlets, must be redirected NOW.… Read more »
Looks like spring forecast is going to be more consequential than last Autumns budget suggested. My guess is she’ll have to do something such extending the freezes on personal tax threshold, seek further savings from non-public services (i.e. benefits) or reduce the increase in public service spending the treasury has promised.
Then hope for the best, but lay the groundwork for more tax rises in Autumn. The problem is you can’t present data and promise to the markets, see them close to being broken, and then have months of speculation leading to the autumn Budget.
The last week has shown that we need to rethink drastically. thanks to brexit, we are adrift from the EU and now we look to scrabble for scraps from a president that is owned by putin. Best thing now is join the EU whilst getting the arms ups to scratch and divesting from trident. That wont be cheap.
all those claims for brexit eh. Not looking good now.
State of conflict can be used to justify anything and in Rachel’s head that means ANYTHING. So brace yourselves as the Treasury directs a massive sucking of cash out of the public’s pockets. Of course the seriously rich will get off lightly, as ever.
According to published tax returns Mr Sunak was paying an effective tax rate of 22% while Mr Starmer was paying 33%. Closing that gap should be the priority.