The Guardian has reported this morning that:
Andy Burnham has signalled that he will not increase wealth taxes immediately after becoming prime minister, easing concerns among the business community but limiting his economic room for manoeuvre.
He said on Wednesday he did not want to “create new divisions” with his tax policy, in comments that allies said were a sign that he did not intend to raise money by taxing wealth.
They added that he had said in an interview with Gary Lineker:
“I do believe we need a greater sense of fairness and people feeling that things are being done in the right way and a fair way.”
“But at the same time, you know, I don't want to sort of be perceived as somebody who's coming in with grudges and agendas and, you know, going to just immediately find or demonise one group or create a new way of dividing people.”
Add this to reports that he will be appointing Shabana Mahmoud as Chancellor, and pressure from the OECD that he increase deeply regressive VAT instead of taxing wealth more and a picture of Burnham's economic and tax philosophy is emerging. It looks remarkably like that if Rachel Reeves, albeit potentially even more so.
This is all deeply, depressingly neoliberal, but that is what I expected from Labour. Nothing is going to change. That party has chosen the pathway to political collapse and to play the role of incubator for fascism, and the hints are that this remains the case.
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I am convinced that your position in how a sovereign country’s public finances work but all I hear I balancing the books, tax increases to fund agenda etc. from everyone, and I mean everyone, on mainstream media. I think your infographics are a great idea but this will take years to fix as there seems to be no narrative in any major public discourse that we are getting it wrong. I will try in my own sphere but how do we change the narrative at a national level when even a party in power that might be receptive just tows the line?
I don’t know
I just keep trying
I’m hopeful that the Green Party conference in October will pass a policy (in their perhaps ‘too bottom up, democratic’ way) that gets them on board with an essentially MMT- based approach to economics; which will enable them to credibly answer the ‘how are you going to pay for it?’ questions. Although the MSM will undoubtedly still vilify them and their leading people as ‘looney party’ or worse.
I live in hope
He needs to raise taxes on earnings so that high earners pay more! At the same time income tax should basically incorporate National insurance which again high earners pay at a lower rate than everyone else! It would also mean earnings from non-employment would contribute more.
LINO = fascist, they are not enablers – they are (take a look at the laws they have brought in).
On the finance side Mamoud is a know-nothing barrister & thus eminently suited to be finance minister – the better to be manipulated by the banksters and their supporters – a gurning glove puppet. But of course soon these comments will be prejudicial to the security of the Septic Isle so off to jail I go.
It’s amazing isn’t it the amount of creative writing that goes into not doing the right thing these days?
We already have an emergent narrative that says that only the political Left is capable of violence despite huge amounts of evidence to the contrary (the Widdecombe case). And now if we take steps to reel in the power of individual wealth who buy politics to try to make things fairer, that is apparently the politics of ‘division’ when such action would probably help to reduce it.
Democratic countries – real ones – do not work like this. The way our politics works is akin to the failed democracy of the United States and we are indeed the 52nd State. And what marches on? Slavery. Despite the American Civil War, the economic and political logic of the Confederacy rules. Money is in charge, anything that belongs to you and me is coveted by some Pleonexic with already enough who believes they have the God written right to acquire it and allocate it elsewhere – usually to themselves.
What a truly horrible state of affairs.
I think most people would be fine with just having the insanely wealthy paying the amount of tax they should instead of using legal loopholes to avoid it. That and bringing CGT in line with income tax, with the obvious allowances for true entrepreneurs etc.
At the same time the BBC says https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89nww3z99po that he has not ruled out a wealth tax.
I will wait to pass judgment until he actually does anything. Appointing Mahmood as Chancellor would be a good indicator that nothing will change!