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I'm all for making the wealthy (of all ages) pay more, so increase CGT and inheritance tax, bring in a wealth tax, increase council tax bands or bring in a land value tax. Any of these will raise many billions from the wealthier in society.
Same, and I’d guess at least some of those measures, along with a reduction on higher rate tax relief on pension contributions, are on their way in the budget since they aren’t amongst the specific tax raises that were ruled out before the election.
Some spending has been cut, but so far it’s been things like departmental reductions in use of consultants, the social care cap (which protected pensioners’ wealth) and some Tory infrastructure pet projects. Can’t get too worked up about that, tbh.
Labour were elected to restore public services, I don’t think we’re looking at another round of Osborne-style austerity.
rodan-
Labour were elected to restore public services, I don’t think we’re looking at another round of Osborne-style austerity.
You're absolutely right. Austerity was the deliberate shrinking of the state and public services for (right wing, individualist) ideological reasons.
The lie was that this was necessary for reasons of financial prudence.
It's been depressing to see some on the left amplify this lie - that financial prudence and the slashing of public investment are indistinguishable - when in fact they're diametrically opposed.
Genuine financial prudence, for Cameron, at a time of historically low interest rates, would've meant fixing the roof while the sun shined, investing in the NHS, our energy infrastructure and insulation, public services, etc. That way we might've been prepared for Covid, cost of living, and the energy crisis.
This option isn't open to Labour. They're having to fix the roof while the rain is pouring in, and while the markets are still jittery as fuck about borrowing post Truss. I don't necessarily think Reeves has drawn up her response to these constraints perfectly, but imo it's dishonest to to pretend those constraints don't exist, or pretend it's reasonable for a government to simply ignore them (again, especially post Truss).
Genuine economic constraints are not 'austerity', and repeating the lie that they're the same thing just lets the Tories off the hook.
ReekBlefs
Ste_S
I'm all for making the wealthy (of all ages) pay more, so increase CGT and inheritance tax, bring in a wealth tax, increase council tax bands or bring in a land value tax. Any of these will raise many billions from the wealthier in society.
Labour's first reaction seems to be to cut spending. Departments have already been warned they face big cuts in the upcoming budget.
The argument people are making early on is let's not have another round of austerity, there are many other ways of 'balancing' the budget, if that's what they want to do.