Tag Archives: tax reform

David Thorpe

The decline of the high street: a liberal solution

By David Thorpe | Mon 11th June 2018 - 8:11 am

The death of the great British high street is an event rarely out of the popular press, and it has been so for a decade.

Mary Portas was appointed in a hail of publicity by David Cameron to find ways to save the high street as far back as 2011, nothing came of that and the problem has become much worse since the increase in business rates introduced last year, the creation of the national living wage and the dent to consumer sentiment caused by the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

Now I quite like the national living wage announced …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 62 Comments
Lord William Wallace

Campaigning for higher and fairer taxes?

By Lord William Wallace | Thu 28th December 2017 - 5:00 pm

We need to talk about tax. The IMF’s annual report on the UK economy recommends that taxes should be raised, in order to reduce the deficit further without cutting public investment and services. Philip Hammond, it is reported, would like to do so; but he is opposed by the ideological (and Eurosceptic) right of his own party, and by the influential group of free market think tanks who were cheerleaders for the Brexit campaign.

The Taxpayers Alliance and the Institute of Economic Affairs have repeatedly argued that it’s impossible to raise more than …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 45 Comments
Joe Bourke

Opinion: tax and benefit reform to help tackle youth unemployment

By Joe Bourke | Fri 24th February 2012 - 6:00 pm

In a two-part investigation, Joe Bourke looks at youth unemployment. Sunday’s part two will have details of policies designed to provide guaranteed employment for 16-24 year-olds. In part one, we discuss changes to the tax system that would make such policies affordable.

If the 2012 budget sees the personal allowance increased to £10,000 we will have achieved a key plank of the 2010 manifesto and provided some welcome relief to the squeeze on incomes that has come not least from the increase in VAT to 20%.

Whether the increase in the personal allowance is achieved in this budget or subsequently, we will soon need to …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 8 Comments
Advert



Recent Comments

  • User Avatarjoeb 12th Dec - 1:19am
    David Raw, I must say I am seriously impressed with your family history. Feargus O’Connor was an early pioneer of Land Reform setting up The...
  • User AvatarGeoff Reid 12th Dec - 12:56am
    No they are not mad. But some of them are not very bright. Actually a number of them have spent a lot of time accusing...
  • User Avatarjoeb 12th Dec - 12:51am
    Jenny Barnes, that's an intriguing conclusion to voters perspectives in the summary of the Ashcroft poll: "...how serious is the Brexit “crisis” in the great...
  • User AvatarRoland 12th Dec - 12:41am
    "The 48 must be obsessively mad." If the MP question on the news this evening is to be believed, the (potentially) 48 letters have been...
  • User AvatarRoland 12th Dec - 12:22am
    Brexit was the consequence of trying to fundamentally alter the nature of the nation state without ever asking the people of Britain whether or not...
  • User AvatarDavid Allen 12th Dec - 12:18am
    Glenn, "The EU is a political organisation rather than a trade organisation." It's both types of organisation. Don't be denialist, of course it is a...