Expect cynical moves from this disastrous Government soon.
Just when you thought it was impossible for this Government to preside over a more-divided Britain, Labour’s latest council tax plans will create a two-tier country where financial prudence will be punished by rising bills. But we should not be surprised. Labour knows no other way than to tax us until the pips scream. And finding cash has never been more important for this administration as it scratches around to plug a £50billion-plus blackhole.
No longer can the Prime Minister or Chancellor blame the previous Conservative government for the financial chaos we find ourselves in. After over a year in charge they need to start being accountable for their appalling decisions to date which has resulted in economic stagnation, rising inflation, increased unemployment, fewer job vacancies and a growing number of small businesses calling it quits forever.
Rachel Reeves’s budget was the blueprint for where we find ourselves – a set of measures so anti-business that it is no wonder that any form of growth has stuttered to a halt.
Against this gloomy backdrop, the Government is desperate to find ways to fund its lavish spending and to service our ludicrously high levels of national debt. The amount of money we pay in interest alone on our debt now exceeds over £105billion a year. This is not cash spent paying off the debt, but simply the amount needed to fund the interest payments.
And as the Chancellor has missed her recent borrowing targets meaning she has had to borrow more than anticipated, it is hard to see how this number will not spiral further out of control.
Labour’s latest wheeze comes from the pen of Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Local Government. She is planning a change in local government funding which would see money from wealthier areas of the country diverted to less prosperous parts.
Work is ongoing for an updated formula that would see central government funding allocated on the basis of a local areas’ needs in the provision of social care, education and homelessness services etc.
Local councils that have been able to keep council tax bills in check would receive less funding from central government. They would then be forced to increase council tax bills to make up the shortfall or reduce services locally to keep bills lower.
Either way, local taxpayers lose out as a central government diktat comes into play in what can only be described as the worst kind of socialism.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates that the councils hit hardest by these proposals would be those in London and the south of England, whilst councils in the north and Midlands would benefit the most.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, says the move is cynical.
He said: “Angela Rayner’s plans risk hammering taxpayers with higher council tax bills just because of where they live. This amounts to a cynical raid on households in well-run areas to prop up those councils that have mismanaged their finances. Any council tax reforms need to be in the form of a cut for hard-pressed households.”
Labour’s addiction to increasing taxes in whatever way possible is out of control. Over the last few weeks, we have heard ideas floated by Labour MPs including the ever-present threat of a wealth tax on those with assets and an increasing support of a tourist tax on those daring to visit this country and spend money in the local economy.
While a tax on visitors to a town or city in the UK is already implemented in some parts of the country, there appears to be a growing wish to make it more widespread.
Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock is the latest to get in on the money grabbing act by suggesting that those with private medical insurance should pay VAT on it.
Once again, we see this mindset of going after those who have done well for themselves and therefore can afford private healthcare. We should be rewarding these people for reducing the burden on the NHS, not penalising them.
High taxation is in the DNA of the Labour Party.
You may have noticed that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have stopped repeating their manifesto pledge of not increasing income tax, VAT or National Insurance.
It has never been clearer that we are heading for an autumn budget that will batter not only those who have worked hard and saved throughout their lives, but also those who are just about holding things together.
The UK’s tax take is already at the highest level since World War Two. Under Starmer and Co, it will only get higher.
