Sunday [12 and 13]

(1132) Evets is up at NOWP. (1146)

13.  IYE at NOWP today

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b.

12.  Taxpayers Alliance take on the GE

It is not the job of the TPA to tell you who to vote for. We do not endorse any party nor campaign for any candidate.

On lower taxes, the news isn’t great. While the Conservatives pledge to reduce taxes in general, and abolish national insurance specifically, little is said about the overall tax burden, which is currently forecast to reach an 80 year high. Labour meanwhile promises to keep taxes “as low as possible” and not raise income tax, national insurance, or VAT. Their tax hikes in other areas make it likely we’ll see the tax burden continue to increase. 

The Green Party of England & Wales plan to raise £172 billion of extra taxes - by far the highest of the parties - while the Liberal Democrats propose £27 billion of net increase. Reform UK does offer significant tax cuts and a call for the economy to “become high growth, with high wages, and lower taxes” but, as we noted before, spending must also be reined in.

Looking at the future of the public finances, both Labour and the Tories publicly plan relatively minor fiscal changes. Though as we know, it’s often what they don’t say that we should be worried about. By contrast the Liberal Democrats propose to raise taxes worth 0.8 per cent of GDP to fund the same amount of net spending increases. 

Reform’s total a 3.4 per cent of GDP reduction in both spending and taxation. The Greens, meanwhile, propose increasing taxes worth a total of 4.7 per cent of GDP in 2028-29 and spending by 6.7 per cent of GDP, with the 2 per cent remainder being funded by higher borrowing.