Taxing more is self defeating

By johnredwood on October 15, 2025

The government sounds as if it thinks it can do the same again as last year. Now it has a report of a large black hole or bigger deficit to tackle it can put up taxes on the rich.

It won an election saying it would keep taxes down, apart from VAT on school fees. It put them up by £40 bn last year saying it was a one off to get rid of an exaggerated inherited black hole. It gave a revised promise of one and done for tax raising budgets.

At the same time it put up spending by £70 bn, creating its own new black hole. It pencilled in £5,5 bn of cuts which its MPs refused to vote for, making things worse.

Now it is allowing the same confidence busting conversations about which taxes to raise to dominate the media in the long run up to the budget. All the discussion is about surrogate wealth taxes as if they were not numerous enough and high enough already. She does seem to have got it that more general business and jobs taxes are counter productive. That may not stretch to the gambling and banking industry.

She should note that CGT revenues have been falling for 2 years thanks to her changes and Hunt’s.

She should worry that cash receipts from spirits duty are down this year following her big hike.

She should see the queue of rich people and young talent leaving the country , reducing future savings and higher income tax receipts.

She should confess her tax on jobs slowed growth and put up unemployment.

She should work out what was the true net gain from VAT on school fees after allowing for costs of extra state school pupils. Why has the number of teachers gone down when state schools were promised more from the3xtra VAT.

Maybe she should have the courage to tell her colleagues No more Tax. We are at the point where in many cases a tax rise will deliver less money.

ED - Do they care? The Fabians see tax as a great way to destroy wealth and drive down the plebs into servitude.