I have to tip my hat to Civitas. The ‘Tufton Street’ think tank made quite a splash on Monday, including bagging the front page of the Daily Mail, with two striking claims. One was that over half of UK households now receive more in benefits from the government than they pay in tax. The other … Continue reading Are we becoming too dependent on the state?
Category: NHS
Is the OBR right to warn against tax cuts?
On Thursday the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the government’s independent fiscal watchdog, published its latest annual report on the long-term sustainability of the public finances and the fiscal risks facing the UK. This made for grim reading, as these reports always do. But this time, the report has been widely interpreted as a warning … Continue reading Is the OBR right to warn against tax cuts?
National Insurance is still the wrong tax, at the wrong time
Sajid Javid has made a good attempt at defending the increases in National Insurance rates for workers and businesses, arguing that they are both right and fair. But he is still wrong. Speaking to Sky News, Javid said that “when we spend money on public services, whether it’s NHS or anything else for that matter, … Continue reading National Insurance is still the wrong tax, at the wrong time
‘Tory PPE losses’ are forgivable (mostly)
ITV’s Robert Peston has understandably made a lot of audit reports showing “£8.7 billion of losses on PPE [personal protective equipment] in government accounts”. There is plenty more ammunition here too for those claiming that there was a ‘pandemic of waste and fraud’, ‘contracts for mates’, and ‘Tory sleaze’. The reality, though, is a little … Continue reading ‘Tory PPE losses’ are forgivable (mostly)
Plain-speaking Economics 