-
Jun 20, 2024 | 
taxjournal.com | Paul Johnson |Dan Neidle |Deepesh Upadhyay |Dominic Robertson
The Liberal Democrats are proposing a package of tax rises that they claim will raise £27bn in 2028/29. These may look politically attractive: a large sum raised without directly raising taxes on ‘ordinary people’. But taxes on banks, for example, would need to be raised to new highs – much higher than under the Conservatives – to achieve the planned revenue, and would ultimately be felt at least in part by their customers.
-
Jun 19, 2024 | 
taxjournal.com | Paul Johnson |Dan Neidle |Helen Miller |Stuart Adam
Disclosures of untaxed offshore assets under HMRC’s Worldwide Disclosure Facility (WDF) increased by 146% to 5,400 in the year to 5 April 2023, report accounting and business advisers Lubbock Fine. Voluntary disclosure under the WDF generally means more favourable treatment in terms of penalties.
-
May 30, 2024 | 
bjgp.org | Terry Kemple |Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson Abacus, 2024, PB, 320pp, £10.31, 978-0349144665The daily news and our own experiences seem to signal that the UK is in decline. Services that had always seemed certain in our lives are under threat. Benjamin Franklin did warn that ‘in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.’ Those taxes take nearly four out every ten pounds that we earn. The Government’s spending decisions are changing the way we live and the sort of society we live in.
-
Mar 17, 2024 | 
thetimes.co.uk | Paul Johnson
In his budget speech Jeremy Hunt made the following statement. “The average earner in the UK now has the lowest effective personal tax rate since 1975 — and one that is lower than in America, France, Germany or any G7 country.”Given that the overall tax burden — the tax take as a fraction of national income — is reaching record levels, it is a remarkable claim. I have neither heard nor seen much commentary on it. Paradoxically that might well be because it is demonstrably true.
-
Mar 7, 2024 | 
taxjournal.com | Paul Johnson |Mike Lane |Paul Farey |David Whiscombe
Home >Articles > Spring Budget 2024: Cuts to NICs: giving back a portion of what’s already been taken
Spring Budget 2024: Cuts to NICs: giving back a portion of what’s already been taken
7 March 2024
The further 2p cut to the main rates of employee and self-employed NICs will: benefit 27.6m employees and 2.2m self-employed workers at a cost of around £10 billion per year.
-
Feb 14, 2024 | 
hastingsindependentpress.co.uk | Paul Johnson |Tim Barton
By Paul JohnsonPublished by Abacus, rrp £12.99REVIEW BY TIM BARTONThe subtitle of this book is ‘how much does Britain cost?’, cost being defined here by the balance of taxes in and government spending out. As the author notes, public service and welfare spending are increasing year on year, in part due to ‘an ageing population’. Economists tend to have a panic attack at ageing populations, and even more so at lower birthrates.
-
Jan 21, 2024 | 
thetimes.co.uk | Paul Johnson
So, to nobody’s great surprise, Jeremy Hunt has said that he’d like to cut taxes in his March budget. And perhaps cut them again in another fiscal event that he is threatening to squeeze in before the election. I have to start with a little throat-clearing.
-
Jan 7, 2024 | 
thetimes.co.uk | Paul Johnson
The two big announcements from last year’s budget and autumn statement are just starting to take effect. They tell us rather a lot about how this year’s election campaign may pan out. They also suggest something rather counter to the accepted narrative about where this government’s priorities might lie. No doubt you’ll be aware that the national insurance cut, announced in November, came into effect on Saturday.
-
Dec 3, 2023 | 
thetimes.co.uk | Paul Johnson
It’s not often that I find someone sounding even more concerned than I am when it comes to assessingthe state of the public finances, but I may have found just such a person last week when, as has become traditional in the wake of fiscal events, I was giving evidence on the autumn statement to the Treasury select committee. Sitting next to me, Jumana Saleheen, chief economist at Vanguard Europe, spoke of the risk that we are entering a fiscal “doom loop”. I’m not actually any less worried.
-
Oct 25, 2023 | 
htworld.co.uk | Paul Johnson
Increasing digital access to health and social care will undoubtedly help more people gain the support they need – but it wrongly assumes everyone is digitally mature. Paul Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Radar Healthcare, questions whether the pursuit of digital transformation within healthcare risks leaving the most vulnerable behind? Despite all the developments of the modern age, we continue to live in a society divided between the ‘health haves’ and the ‘health have-nots’.
