Tax Justice UK
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Taxing Wealth
    • Tax and public opinion
    • Tax and the climate crisis
    • Ending tax dodging
  • About
    • Our approach
    • People
    • Funders
    • Sign up
    • Jobs
  • Blog
  • Donate

The chancellor’s return to austerity is a political choice

17/11/2022

 
Picture
The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has just delivered his long anticipated autumn statement.

This was his chance to use higher taxes on the super-rich to invest in our public services. Instead he announced plans for billions of pounds of spending cuts in the coming years.

This return to the failed austerity policies of the past will put the UK in a doom loop of longer hospital waiting lists, collapsing social care and an ever more frustrated public.

And this is all amidst the biggest drop in disposable household incomes on record and a recession.

There were some silver linings to the statement. The existing windfall tax on oil and gas giants was beefed up, even though loopholes still remain. However, the tax incentives given to oil and gas have not been extended to renewables.

Taxes on income from wealth, such as investments and dividends, were increased slightly. The top band for income tax now kicks in at £125,000, rather than £150,000.

But this misses the scale of what was needed to protect public services. A few weeks ago we showed how the Chancellor could have raised £37 billion from wealth taxes.

Instead, the current plans mean that we will be hit by another round of cuts to public services from 2025.

We still have time to stop the worst of the planned cuts from happening. Spending cuts are a political choice, a Guardian article quoting our research argued this week. They are unnecessary and reversible.

Hunt’s capital gains tweak shows we’ve clearly got our foot in the door on wealth taxes. It wouldn’t have happened without our campaigning.

​That’s why we’ll keep pushing for the super rich to be taxed more – and for this money to go straight into our public services and to help struggling households.

Comments are closed.

    Posts

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Tax Justice UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee in England & Wales (no. 10761736)
Registered Address: C/O Godfrey Wilson, ​Mariner House, 62 Prince St, Bristol BS1 4QD

Tax Justice UK is a partner of (but independent from) the Tax Justice Network

Privacy policy
Terms and conditions for using this website
Equality and Diversity Statement

If you have concerns about Tax Justice UK, you can make a complaint using this email address complaints@taxjustice.uk.

This website is published under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence
​Tax Justice UK campaigns for a better tax system to benefit everyone in the UK.
Media enquiries:  +44 (0)7413 729 505 (24hrs) 
Phone: +44 (0)20 3637 9137
​Email: mail AT taxjustice.uk
Picture
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Taxing Wealth
    • Tax and public opinion
    • Tax and the climate crisis
    • Ending tax dodging
  • About
    • Our approach
    • People
    • Funders
    • Sign up
    • Jobs
  • Blog
  • Donate