Ah yes, the tories: the party of fiscal responsibility and low taxes.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
In a damaging report for Rishi Sunak as the Tory party faces growing internal divisions over the issue, the thinktank said tax revenue was on track to amount to about 37% of national income in 2024, up from about 33% four years ago.
In analysis that is likely to stoke fresh Tory infighting, the IFS said no parliament had presided over a bigger increase in taxes than the current one – led by three Conservative prime ministers – on records dating back to 1951.
Under Keir Starmer, Labour has seized on rising tax levels as evidence of the Tories’ failure to grow the economy, arguing the government is in a bind of its own making, as sluggish economic growth brings in less income for the exchequer to fund public services.
In separate research published on Friday, a report from the Resolution Foundation thinktank and the innovation charity Nesta’s UK 2040 Options programme warned stark wealth inequalities were holding Britain back.
Ben Zaranko, a senior research economist at IFS, said that while high by historical standards, the UK’s tax take as a share of national income was still “fairly middling” compared with other developed countries.
A spokesperson for the Treasury said that “despite needing to take the difficult decisions to restore public finances” after the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK’s ratio of tax to gross domestic product would still remain lower than any major European economy.
The original article contains 810 words, the summary contains 239 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
As someone who hates the Tories, this is total bullshit reporting, actually. The £3,500 a year figure comes from “an additional £100bn a year for the exchequer – the equivalent to about £3,500 more per household”, but where is that additional £100bn coming from?
A “rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25%, the energy profits levy and the freezing of various income tax and national insurance thresholds.”
Ah yes, “various income tax rates”, that’s definitely not a reference to the top rate of income tax… which is £125k. Fuck off. I don’t give a shit about people earning that much having to pay more tax.
Fuck the Tories, they’re looting the whole country. But this is total nonsense.
Stating you hate the Tories then come out with an opinion to try and promote them. Your last post said
Oh, and for all you “vote the Tories out, get a labour government” fantasists:
It is like you are saying I hate the Tories as a deflection from the fact you want to denigrate anyone speaking against them.
As for your comments here:
The windfall profits levy is expected to be £5b. I could argue this is government figure, so optimism is key here.
Corporation tax from 2019 year end is £63.2b
Corporation tax from 2023 year end £84.7b
Which is a rise of
£21.6b£26.5, this leaves £73.5b in extra tax receipts since 2019. That is still a massive amount. If we assume that the £3500 per household is correct for the total amount, then with the new amount it is still £2572.5 per household, that is without corporation tax and windfall levies. Which is still £172.5 higher than the Tories said we would get if we were stupid enough to vote for Corbyn.And for icing on the cake, Corporation taxes have actually decreased under the Tories from 28% in 2011, 24% in 2012, 23% in 2013, 21% in 2015, 20% in 2016 and 19% in 2018. The last 5 years have been the lowest rate for corporation taxes in at least the last 60 years. More proof that the burden of finances the country is falling on the poorer people in the UK.
EDIT: Corrected the error in the sums.
Take one look at anything I have ever written on Lemmy and you’ll see that I am by no means a defender of the Tories. Speak against them all you want, I’ll not defend them, but I also won’t abide the media sharing pro-industry, pro-capitalist think-tank bullshit, which is exactly what this is - a think tank that wants the Tories to tax the wealthy even less than they currently are.
And for icing on the cake, Corporation taxes have actually decreased under the Tories from 28% in 2011
Yes, it was dropping until the relatively recent announcement that they’re increasing it to 25% for companies that earn over 250k. That’s one of the reasons why this think tank is complaining about increases of corporation tax costing households money.
the new amount it is still £2744 per household
Except it’s not. It’s £0 per household, because corporations and fossil fuel companies aren’t households. If I instituted a wealth tax on billionaires and raised £282 billion with it, that’s not costing households £10,000 each is it?
The Tories deserve tonnes of criticism about hundreds and hundreds of things they’ve done. But increasing corporation tax and the concept of a fossil fuel industry levy (as much of a total scam that the implementation is) aren’t among those issues.
Except it’s not. It’s £0 per household, because corporations and fossil fuel companies aren’t households. If I instituted a wealth tax on billionaires and raised £282 billion with it, that’s not costing households £10,000 each is it?
This is after taking corporation tax and windfall away from the total £100b (100b-21.6=78.4b). Read it again.
Yeah, misread your comment, sorry!
Your numbers are a wee bit off, but close enough - my calcs give £27bn corp tax rather than £21.6 (remember they’re increasing it this tax year to 25% from 19%).
It’s irrelevant anyways. The windfall tax is all just propaganda to mitigate criticism of the fossil fuel industry. I don’t want to defend the Tories at all, I agree with you that they’re taxing the working class greater for the benefit of the wealthy. But that isn’t what the article is saying, and that’s why I’m annoyed at the article. The article is bullshit not because it criticises the Tories, the article is bullshit because it’s complaining about the wrong things! They mention three conservative government policies which they claim are causing harm to us, and of those three policies, two and a half of them are things we should be pushing for MORE of. (Higher corporation tax, taxes on the fossil fuel industry, higher income tax for people with high incomes). Those policies are bad because they don’t go far enough.
Your numbers are a wee bit off,
Hands up, you are correct. I edited the post with correct figures.
They mention three conservative government policies which they claim are causing harm to us
I think you are reading an interpretation that is not there. They do not claim any policy is harming us. They state the facts of where the largest tax rises are coming from which is very near the wording of the report. The actual IFS report is here.
The guardian states the report is damaging because of the conference next week. It is trying to stir up anxiety among Tory party members, but it does not cast aspersions over which tax increases are good or bad.
I agree the windfall tax is just a sham. I would be very surprised if we see any receipts at all. They built huge cop out options into the bill. Shell have declared a reduction in investment because of the windfall tax while only paying £134m to the government from a worldwide £40b profit. The whole process is nothing more than a façade.
Ah yes, “various income tax rates”, that’s definitely not a reference to the top rate of income tax… which is £125k. Fuck off. I don’t give a shit about people earning that much having to pay more tax.
Thresholds, not rates. And, as you’d expect, freezing them hits the poorest the hardest.
The effect of freezing tax thresholds:
The combined impact of headline tax changes, policy roll-outs and frozen taxes and benefits by 2025–26 is broadly regressive, with the poorest seeing income falls of 2.8% of income and the richest falls of only 1.1%. Headline cuts to income tax and National Insurance will benefit higher-income households who are more likely to get more of their income from employment, while the poorest tenth of households will gain only £13 per year from these measures. Because some tax thresholds and – especially – benefits values are indefinitely frozen, the impact of freezes only grows over time. As a result, by 2030–31 the total changes to the tax and benefit system are more clearly regressive, with the highest-income tenth seeing a 1.3% fall in income and the lowest-income tenth a 4.7% fall.
I absolutely 100% agree with you that the Tories are stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. But the article isn’t about personal allowance. If you click on the link I referenced in the original post, it takes you to an article about higher rate tax-payers. I don’t think any of us should give a shit about higher rate tax payers, and I’m not going to apologise for holding that opinion.
I’m responding to the article as it stands. Obviously the Tories aren’t good for the country economically, I think that’s self-evident, but the article is extremely misleading.
About £30 billion comes from freezing tax thresholds. Those affect everybody across the board because we all get the same thresholds.
You quoted the article accurately but then misstated what it said.
Oh, and for all you “vote the Tories out, get a labour government” fantasists: “the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has ruled out introducing a wealth tax or putting up the top rate of income tax”
Labour aren’t worth your vote. We need to make our own political change now.
Your best bet it’s voting against the worst party. That’s FPTP. Until that’s gone there’s little point in voting for the party you actually want.
Whether we have PR or not doesn’t matter, we cannot turn a system against itself. A political party disruptive to the status quo would not be allowed to gain power. Party politics will not save us. We need bold action that goes far beyond voting.
What do you suggest? And what do you suggest should come after?
I suggest joining the IWW, getting involved in direct action and mutual aid and working within your communities to build alternative structures. Start or join a housing co-op or a workers co-op (or both), try to make changes to your living situation which make you more self-sufficient (growing your own food, getting solar panels) and just being helpful, generous and kind.
I think what should come after is a world where people work together to provide everyone with what they need without any abusive structures of power.
