Former PM set to give speech defending her time in charge and explaining spending decisions
Liz Truss will claim that Rishi Sunak’s government has spent £35bn more than she would have as prime minister, in a speech on Monday.
The short-lived prime minister will use a speech at the Institute for Government to defend and explain her time in charge, nearly a year on from the ill-fated mini-budget that helped end her premiership.
Continue reading...Both sides of constitutional debate use Gers data to argue case for and against independence
Scotland’s public spending deficit has fallen from a record peak last year, as oil and gas revenues reached their highest-ever level after a global rise in oil prices.
The government expenditure and revenue Scotland (Gers) report calculated a per-person deficit – the gap between the amount raised through all tax and spending on all public services – as £1,521 in the 2022-23 financial year, down from £2,184 the previous year.
Continue reading...Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, issues plea for honesty from Labour and the Conservatives about tax and spending choices ahead of election
Unveiling significant tax cuts before next year’s general election would put Britain’s “scary” public finances in further peril and risk the nightmare scenario of even higher interest rates, one of the country’s most influential economists has said.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, also made a plea for honesty from both main parties over the profound tax and spending choices they would face should they win power.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Maurizio Bragagni, who has given over £700k to Tories and £30k to chancellor, attended event
Jeremy Hunt oversaw the signing of a low-tax treaty with San Marino championed by a leading Tory donor, who with his companies has given more than £700,000 to the party and £30,000 to the chancellor.
Maurizio Bragagni, a prominent businessman and diplomat for San Marino, was present in No 11 when a “double taxation” treaty between the UK and San Marino was signed in May.
Continue reading...Treasury committee report says tax system is too complicated and finds two-thirds of relief policies are uncosted
Almost £200bn of tax reliefs handed to businesses and individuals each year should come under greater government scrutiny to prevent fraud and abuse, according to an all-party group of MPs.
The Treasury committee said in a report published on Wednesday that “a systematic review” into more than 1,000 tax reliefs was needed after MPs found HM Revenue and Customs did not have the resources to monitor how tax breaks and deductions were used.
Continue reading...More than a quarter of routes in English county and rural areas have been lost over 10 years
Endangered rural bus services have dwindled to a new low after losing out on funding after the pandemic, analysis for councils has shown.
More than a quarter of routes in county and rural areas of England have been lost in the past decade, with passenger numbers falling sharply.
Continue reading...Chancellor calls on firms to tackle high prices as government remains far from pledge of halving inflation to 5%
Jeremy Hunt has said he must “double down” on high prices after admitting a package of pre-election tax cuts this autumn was looking unlikely.
The government would not make moves to “pump billions of additional demand” into the economy, the chancellor added.
Continue reading...‘Impact assessment’ of the illegal migration bill reignites bitter rows over the controversial scheme
The cost of sending a single person seeking asylum to Rwanda could be nearly £170,000, according to government analysis, which has immediately reignited bitter rows over the controversial scheme.
A long-awaited “impact assessment” of the illegal migration bill has conceded that ministers do not know the overall costs of implementing plans to detain and deport anyone who arrives in the UK by irregular means.
Continue reading...Plan to charge £43 per consignment could see some small businesses struggle to stay open
Many UK businesses which import food products from the European Union will have to pay a special “Brexit tax” that will further drive up prices, particularly in smaller shops such as delicatessens, under proposals set out by the government last week.
The planned charge of £43 per consignment, outlined in a consultation document issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), was described on Saturday by a leading industry figure as “the sting in the tail of a post-Brexit food inspection regime” that was already fuelling inflation.
Continue reading...Amazon UK Services received tax credit of £7.7m for investment in infrastructure under Rishi Sunak’s super-deduction scheme
Amazon’s main UK division has paid no corporation tax for the second year in a row after benefiting from tax credits on a chunk of its £1.6bn of investment in infrastructure, including robotic equipment at its warehouses.
Amazon UK Services, which employs more than half of the group’s UK workers, received a tax credit of £7.7m in the year to the end of December, according to accounts filed at Companies House, advance details of which were shared by Amazon with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Cost of period products has risen and campaigners say saving is not being passed on by retailers
The Treasury is analysing whether the removal of the “tampon tax” – trumpeted last week by Rishi Sunak as one of the benefits of Brexit – has helped lower prices at all, amid concerns the saving is not being passed on by retailers to women.
Responding to a written question from the Labour MP Ruth Cadbury, the government said a tax reduction was able to “contribute to the conditions for price reductions” and it was “looking into whether this important zero-rating is being passed on by retailers to women as intended”.
Continue reading...PM says Labour criticism of family tax arrangements doesn’t bother him, as rich list shows he and his wife have lost £200m
Rishi Sunak has said he is “not bothered” by Labour’s criticism of his wealthy family’s tax arrangements and thinks the UK has “moved beyond” judging people on their money, as a new estimate said the UK prime minister’s fortune had fallen to around £500m.
Sunak, who is the wealthiest British prime minister ever on account of his wife’s shareholdings, said he did not pay attention to Labour’s personal attacks on his finances.
Continue reading...Jeremy Hunt’s freeze on allowances and thresholds will put a quarter of teachers and one-eighth of nurses in 40% income tax bracket
One in four teachers and one in eight nurses will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 as a result of the government’s record freeze on income tax allowances and thresholds, according to a leading thinktank.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said better-paid public sector workers will be among the almost 8 million people – one in five of all taxpayers – who will pay income tax at 40% or above as result of the Treasury’s attempt to reduce the UK’s budget deficit.
Continue reading...International fund set up at Cop27 is intended to provide compensation to countries worst hit by climate breakdown
A tax on wealthy Britons of just 0.5% could more than meet the UK’s entire “fair share” contribution to the international loss and damage fund established to support countries worst hit by global climate breakdown, a charity has suggested.
Taxing 5p of every £10 of individuals’ wealth over £1m would raise £15bn a year by 2030, well in excess of an estimated $15bn (£12bn) UK contribution to the new fund, according to an analysis by the anti-poverty campaigners Christian Aid.
Continue reading...The independent Vermont senator argued against unfettered capitalism in an interview with journalist Chris Wallace
The US government should confiscate 100% of any money that Americans make above $999m, the leftwing independent senator Bernie Sanders said late last week.
Sanders expressed that belief in an exchange on Friday evening with the host of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? on HBO Max.
Continue reading...Labour leader earned little outside his parliamentary income apart from windfall after sister sold home he helped her buy
Keir Starmer has released his tax returns for the last two years, showing that he earned little outside his parliamentary income except for a windfall when his sister sold the family home that he helped her buy.
The Labour leader released a summary of his past two years of tax payments on Thursday, a day after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, released three years of his.
Continue reading...Labour says chancellor had time to draw up more targeted changes rather than including wealthiest savers
Jeremy Hunt previously backed Labour’s idea of giving a pensions tax break only to NHS staff, despite ruling out such a move in this week’s budget because it would not come into force quickly enough.
The chancellor was chair of the health select committee last year when members wrote a report calling for the NHS pension scheme to be overhauled to encourage senior doctors to stay in their jobs.
Continue reading...Health secretary expected to announce a formal pay offer to key unions later today
Sinn Féin’s US fundraising arm has caused a row by calling for a referendum on Irish unity in adverts in the New York Times, Washington Post and other US publications.
The half-page ads were paid for by Friends of Sinn Féin and ran on Wednesday urging support for unity referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. “It is time to agree on a date,” it said. “Let the people have their say.”
They’re ads from Irish American organisations whose view on reunification is well known and held for a very long time and they take out ads every year. So, the focus now needs to be on getting back to work [at Stormont].
Continue reading...Thinktank says taxes as share of GDP are on course to reach 70-year high but public services are being cut
The UK remains on track for a “disastrous decade” of stagnant incomes and high taxes, despite cuts to public services, the Resolution Foundation has said in its analysis of the budget on Wednesday.
The thinktank, whose stated aim is to improve the standard of living for low- and middle-income families, said typical household disposable incomes were on course to be lower by the end of the forecast period in 2027-28 than they were before pandemic, when inflation was taken into account.
Continue reading...Shadow chancellor says decision to axe lifetime allowance is ‘wrong priority at the wrong time for the wrong people’
The Labour party has vowed to reverse the chancellor’s £1bn budget pensions tax “gilded giveaway” for the wealthiest 1% if it wins the next general election, as Jeremy Hunt defended his decision to scrap the lifetime pensions allowance.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said Labour would seek to force a Commons vote next week on the decision, which critics argue will allow the wealthiest people to put a limitless amount into their pension pots, which can then be passed on to their heirs without paying inheritance tax.
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