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Picture a couple who retired a few years ago and have lived in the same house for 30 years, brought up their children in it, cleared the mortgage and paid every penny of tax they ever owed.
asserted
they → see → tax
They wish to downsize to be closer to the grandchildren, so freeing up their larger home for a growing family.
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They → wish → family
Unfortunately, the taxman wants thousands of pounds in stamp duty for the new home, which makes the cost of the move uneconomic.
asserted
cost → want → move
What’s more, next year the state pension rises above the income tax threshold for the first time, and every week brings a fresh rumour about what the Chancellor might take next: their savings, their pension pot, whatever they had hoped to pass on.
uncertain
they → ’ → whatever
There are millions of people like them and on October 28 they will sit down to watch John Healey’s first Budget wondering how much more of their money Labour is going to take.
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Labour → be → money
Mr Healey has been challenged again and again to rule out tax rises – and every time he has refused.
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he → challenge → rises
That may be defensible in normal times, but after two Budgets in which Labour hiked taxes and with warning signs flashing across the economy, these are far from normal times.
uncertain
these → hike → times
While we are talking about more and more pensioners potentially having to file a tax return for the first time, are we really suggesting that in the final years of her life, Granny is going to have to wait in the queue for an HMRC phoneline?
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Granny → talk → phoneline
At the last election they promised not to raise taxes on ‘working people’.
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they → promise → people
Within months, Rachel Reeves had put a jobs tax on employers across the country and, as a result, payrolls have shrunk by more than 200,000 since Labour took office.
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Labour → put → office
Then came a tax on family farms, a tax on family businesses, VAT on school fees, and a ‘tourist tax’ on the seaside guesthouse.
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tax → come → guesthouse
Every day, everyone from young people starting out to departing non-doms tell me they feel overtaxed.
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they → start → me
Only yesterday senior financiers and chief executives in the City warned Andy Burnham that his rumoured plans to hike capital gain tax from 24 per cent to 45 per cent would be a huge drag on the success of investment.
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plans → warn → investment
Senior financiers and chief executives in the City have warned Andy Burnham his rumoured plans to hike capital gain tax would be a huge drag on the success of investment
Chancellor John Healey has been challenged again and again to rule out tax rises – and every time he has refused
And just last week Sky News obtained a 50-page dossier which had been drawn up for Keir Starmer this spring, mapping out the road to this October’s Budget.
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which → warn → Budget
It admits there is ‘limited fiscal space to support living standards’, which roughly translates to: don’t expect the Budget to help you.
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Budget → admit → you
Yet the same document finds room for ‘reforms to capital and property taxes’ and Andy Burnham has already lifted six of its other policies.
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Burnham → find → policies
For Labour, ‘reform’ means increase.
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reform → mean → increase
When the party ‘reformed’ agricultural relief in 2024, farmers got a tax on the family farm.
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farmers → reform → farm
Property tax ‘reform’ could mean your council tax or the stamp duty on your next home going up.
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tax → mean → home
Capital gains tax ‘reform’ means taking more of your savings, and the Sky News dossier mentions pensions, too.
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dossier → mean → pensions
It’s clear that while Labour has a new Prime Minister, the plan has stayed the same – and the plan means you are going to pay more.
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you → ’ → more
All of this instead of getting a grip on a welfare bill that is out of control, with the latest figures – as the Daily Mail reported yesterday – showing one in five working-age adults is claiming universal credit.
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adults → get → credit
Almost a million young people are classified as ‘Neets’: not in work, education or training.
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people → classify → work
Yesterday’s revelation that the Treasury has borrowed £8.1billion more than expected this fiscal year proves that tax rises are inevitable.
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rises → borrow → more
Without cutting back on welfare, Burnham will be forced to find more than £300million a day in repayments.
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Burnham → cut → repayments
Labour would rather tax the country to death than take the difficult decisions to get our economy out of the doldrums into which it has plunged it.
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it → tax → it
All the while, wealth creators are heading for the exit and the tax bill that’s left over lands on everyone else who is trying to get by.
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who → head → everyone
So, as Shadow Chancellor, I challenge John Healey to rule out any new taxes – and I will keep making that challenge every day until the Budget.
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I → challenge → Budget
That means no higher rates and no new stealth taxes.
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That → mean → rates
The dividing line on tax between Labour and Conservatives could not be clearer.
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line → divide → Labour
In stark contrast with Labour, I will cut taxes in my first budget as Chancellor.
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I → cut → Chancellor
Stamp duty on your home, the family farm and the family business death taxes will all be abolished.
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duty → abolish → home
We will reverse the imposition of VAT on education and abolish business rates for thousands of High Street shops.
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We → reverse → shops
All fully funded from fixing the out-of-control welfare spend and cutting back the size and cost of government.
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All → fund → government
Stamp duty is a tax on social mobility that keeps pensioners in homes too big for them and stops younger people moving to take a better job or to have children.
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people → keep → children
The housing market is struggling as it is, so let’s unleash it from the chains of stamp duty and start stimulating growth in our economy.
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’s → struggle → economy
That retired couple should be able to sell up, move closer to their grandchildren and keep what they have worked for.
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they → sell → what
Under Labour they are taxed for moving, and kept guessing about everything else.
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they → tax → everything
The simple truth is that Labour wants to raise taxes to pay for more benefits.
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Labour → want → benefits
The Conservatives will cut taxes, cut the welfare bill and let people keep more of their own money.
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people → cut → money
The Aporia
