Ben Wilkinson

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Ben Wilkinson

Cast your mind back to little over a year ago when Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves came into power and suddenly became very sombre about the state of the nation’s finances. Starmer warned that “things are worse than we ever imagined”, and said that the October Budget would be “painful”. Despite a £40bn tax raid in the Chancellor’s maiden Budget, things are still, it appears, just as bleak.

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Wilkinson

The Tory deep freeze on tax rates across the board will almost certainly be extended, dragging more workers and pensioners into higher tax brackets that consume more of their wealth. Aspiration and prudence will ultimately be the victims of this relentless tax drive that now means hard work no longer pays. The Government has already shown that it holds ideology above reason. Its capital gains tax raid will blow a £23bn hole in the public purse.

4 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Ben Wilkinson

Labour’s solemn election promise not to tax “working people” has not aged well. Rachel Reeves promptly used her first Budget to unleash a jobs tax on employers that has helped to see unemployment rise and job vacancies wither. The Chancellor will argue that this is not a direct tax on workers’ pay packets, but she will have been fully aware of the inevitable consequences: wage suppression and higher prices for consumers.

4 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Wilkinson

The most unpalatable suggestion is stripping workers of both income tax and National Insurance relief on contributions. This would be nothing short of theft given retirees are now paying record amounts of income tax on their pensions and at record rates. Also this week, Reeves pushed ahead with plans to steer pension funds into investing a proportion of their holdings into British companies, with ministers wanting the power to force funds to comply if necessary.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Ben Wilkinson

We saw this week just how costly a Labour government can be. A memo leaked to The Telegraph revealed that Angela Rayner had called on the Chancellor to wage a fresh tax war on savers and top earners. Among the demands made by the Deputy Prime Minister was the resurrection of the Yes, this is the very same rule that the Tories had to scrap to stop senior NHS doctors retiring early and in large numbers.