Left’s Transformation of Britain Rolls on With Tax Rises on Horizon Despite Election-Time Promises

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HM TREASURY
Oliver JJ Lane

The UK’s new left wing government is telegraphing its intention to visit fresh tax rises upon the country in the Autumn, warning the public that “tough decisions” are being made, with critics stating the left was using rhetoric to try and justify the cash-grab it had always intended to make.

The UK economy grew fractionally in the first half of 2024, in line with the expectations of economists. Nevertheless, the Chancellor of the Exchequer — in office for little over a month since July’s General Election — continues the doom-and-gloom rhetoric, leading to accusations she is trying to soften up the country for an ideologically inspired tax grab despite repeated promises at election-time not to.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said of the second quarter GDP increase of 0.6 per cent on Thursday, blaming the previous government for the situation and consequently the actions she said the government would take to rectify it: “The new Government is under no illusion as to the scale of the challenge we have inherited… we are taking the tough decisions now to fix the foundations, so we can rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off.”

Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative who held Reeves’ job until last month responded with scorn to the comments. The former Chancellor was hardly speaking from a position of strength given he too massively increased the tax burden during his time in power, but nevertheless claimed the economy growing slowly in the first half of the year underlined that Labour hadn’t inherited a total basket case.

Hunt said, per British tabloid The Express: “The Chancellor’s attempt to blame her economic inheritance on her decision to raise taxes – tax rises she had always planned – will not wash with the public. Labour promised over 50 times in the election they would not raise people’s taxes and we will hold them to account on their promises.”

The threat would be remarkable if delivered, given the badly bruised Conservative Party doesn’t appear to have held the new government to account on anything whatsoever so far, despite ample opportunity to do so.

Tax rises — if delivered as repeatedly trailed by Labour now they are in power — would be a consequential outcome for British workers, who have already suffered years of tax rises during the ostensibly Conservative government years. Many of these cash-grabs came in the form of so-called stealth taxation, fiscal drag, a fiscal sleight-of-hand by the treasury allowing the state to absorb an ever-larger slice of the economy in taxes without having to face the negative headlines of actually raising new levies.

By simply standing by and allowing inflation to push ever more workers into higher tax bands through time, the Conservatives were able to raise billions more while disingenuously claiming to have frozen taxes. In fact, the freeze was a malicious one, drawing middle-income earners like teachers, police officers, and nurses into punishment tax bands originally created to force the very wealthy to ‘pay their share’.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will announce the Autumn budget on October 30th, when the country will learn of what new taxes the government will be bringing to bear.

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