The Office for Budget Responsibility published this in March 2023, but the data has not moved that much since then:
There will be much talk today about the tax burden in the UK. It is worth reminding ourselves that compared to similar countries, it is low, and we demand services of the scale that they enjoy. Unsurprisingly, the impossibility of achieving that outcome is now becoming apparent.
We have a choice. We can go for lower state services and pay for our medical care privately, which is how the US delivers its outcome - whilst leaving large parts of the population at massive risk of not getting the care they need - or we can pay via taxation for the services we need to live in a decent society where everyone has a chance.
To be selfish or not, that is the question.
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Is the OBR of any real use?
As it exists now, no
Tat is why Labour is dedicated to its continuation, quite bizarrely
Thank you, Richard.
Not just continuation, but, according to Reeves, enhancing its status by law. Bank of England, too.
The shadow Treasury team obsesses over a big bang announcement in its first few weeks, days even, like Brown (really the Balls brothers, Ed and his brother Andrew at PIMCO) and central bank independence. They want to send a signal to the markets.
Colonel, don’t you get fed up with today’s politicians ‘sending a signal’? It seems to equate to ‘doing something stupid’, that’s going to make life worse for ordinary people. But maybe that’s because every time they say or do anything that is what happens. If only they would all just go away! Life might suddenly seem better for the many, since the politicians would no longer be actively making it worse. A bit like how when doctors go on strike, the death rate falls, apparently:
https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/28/doctor-strikes-lowered-mortality-happens-every-time
(But this is a dig at politicians, not doctors – I don’t want doctors to go away, and I support the recent strikes by healthcare workers!).
The tax burden is at an all time high and is suffocating for many. I know you want to bash the rich but i fear your definition is the squeezed middle classes who really arn’t rich at all when accounting for the cost of family life. Many really will prefer tax cuts.
“You fear”
So, you hgaven’t read anything I have actually had to say then?
C’mon Tony,
Did you actually digest the next to last paragraph. Tax cuts will lead to further decimation of public services. If that’s what you want then pray for your family that you never need NHS treatment. Less tax will lead to a US system of paying thousands for treatment.
But the tax cuts on offer today do not suffice. An extra 166 pounds a week? For what exactly? A 6 figure salary barely covers the bills due to absurd interest rates.
I am sory, but that is not true
It is either government for the many, or government for the well-off.
I know what is morally right.
Tax burdens are surely relative to the cost of living? As the cost of living soars due to unmitigated supply side profiteering, then any other burden becomes onerous, including levels of taxation lower than other countries without our profiteering, suffocating, economy? Tax cuts are a joke in those circumstances, benefitting only the rich.