An explosive data leak – one of the largest of its kind, containing more than 13m documents – showed the extent of tax avoidance among the world’s elite, including powerful and influential people in…Read more…
Tax justice
During spring 2016 the country was rocked by a leak from the Mossack Fonseca legal firm in Panama that exposed the shadowy and complicated network used by the global super rich to avoid paying tax….Read more…
‘Chaos and confusion’
Theresa May was forced into a humiliating U-turn today (May 22) over the Tories’ “dementia tax” manifesto pledge – just four days after she announced it. May rowed back after it became…Read more…
How the tax system is driving people into insecure work in unexpected ways
I work for the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, a group of tax and welfare rights specialists with expertise in the tax and related welfare issues of the low-paid. Often, people contact us describing their problems with tax, National Insurance, tax credit…Read more…
The ‘failure Budget’
Chancellor Philip Hammond brushed Brexit under the carpet as he laid out the last Spring Budget today, delivering paltry policies that will do nothing to alleviate austerity, low wages or job…Read more…
“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilisation.” Newham Council Budget meeting 2017
This was to be my speech last night at the Newham Council Meeting on the budget. There was a free vote for Labour Councillors (i.e all of us) and I had proposed an amendment to the budget on increasing Council tax by 1.99% in order to pay for hardship …Read more…
Budget blogs: The fiscal cost of insecure work
Yesterday’s Budget blog focused on challenges facing the Chancellor as he prepares for the last Spring Budget. New TUC research out today shows why tackling the rise of insecure work should be high on the Chancellor’s agenda, revealing the £4bn a year cost of the rise in low-paid self employment…Read more…
Designing a responsible corporate tax policy for Brexit Britain
Last month, the Prime Minister announced the government’s new industrial strategy through a green paper, inviting responses via a consultation. In a 132-page document, tax was mentioned just 14 times. Yet it is undoubtedly the case that taxation is a core component of a government’s economy policy….Read more…
Invest in HMRC call
Britain’s richest people seem to be getting preferential treatment from the taxman and are not being properly pursued for their outstanding tax bills, according to parliament’s spending watchdog….Read more…
Tax cheat curb plans are useless
New plans to hit firms that sell tax avoidance schemes with heavy fines are useless – because the Tories have stripped HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of its resources for catching cheats, leading…Read more…
I wish I could be shocked by the “Panama Papers”
Tax avoidance on this scale is simply the poorest paying the price for the grubby venality of the rich. Governments around the world now need to develop concrete and workable solutions to root out…Read more…
#Budget2016: TUC reaction roundup
The Chancellor, George Osborne delivered the 2016 budget yesterday, here is a quick round up of reactions from our TUC bloggers: Public Service cuts £3.5bn worth of cuts to public services by 2020. The spending cuts will be identified through an ‘efficiency review’. Cuts and increased pressures on…Read more…
Update: #Budget2016 is much better for the better off
Quick update Earlier today I discussed the costs and benefits of the Chancellor’s plans to increase the personal tax allowance (PTA) to £12,500 and the higher rate threshold (HRT) to £50,000 by 2020 (Spoiler alert: the costs are high and the benefits are scant). Today the Chancellor took a…Read more…
#Budget2016: Altering tax thresholds is an expensive way to aid the well paid
The chancellor has promised measures to increase the personal tax allowance (PTA) for low-paid workers (the amount they can earn in a year before being liable for tax) also the higher rate threshold (HRT) (the point beyond which tax increases to 40%). While both measures have been portrayed as a…Read more…
Tougher economic conditions, but the IFS suggests the Chancellor’s rules are holding back growth
Yesterday the IFS set out a bleaker view for the economy and public finances in its Green Budget, which is published every year in the run-up to the Chancellor’s Budget Statement. Given the gloomy projections, let’s hope the government takes note, especially with regard to the fiscal mandate….Read more…
Further cuts to local services not sustainable, says UNISON Scotland
Date: Tuesday 2 February 2016
UNISON Scotland is calling for the Scottish Parliament to use its powers to put more money into local services. By 2020 expenditure on public services will be 12.5% lower in real terms. That is on top of the £2.5bn cuts since 2010.
This next round of cuts will mean at least another 15,000 job cuts for local councils. Of the 50,000 jobs that have been lost inRead more…
Scottish public bodies must mitigate austerity, says UNISON
Date: Wednesday 23 September 2015
UNISON Scotland is launching a campaign today (23 September 2015) calling on the Scottish Government, local authorities and public bodies to do all they can to mitigate UK government austerity.The public services trade union is calling for a range of financial and industrial policies to create investment in Scottish infrastructure, green energy production andRead more…
Queen’s speech: We may have lost a battle – There is still a war to fight
“Where there is discord may we bring harmony. Where there is error may we bring truth. Where there is doubt may we bring faith. And where there is despair may we bring hope.” Remember that…Read more…
Wall Street or Main Street? US Democrats plan ‘high-roller fee’
For years we’ve been told that a Robin Hood Tax in Europe or the UK won’t work because the US will never implement one. That day is, admittedly, still a way off. But this week, senior Democrats in the House of Representatives took a massive step forward, with the senior Democrat on the…Read more…
Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: the poorest pay 47 per cent of their income in tax (the richest pay 34 per cent)
(Warning: long post.) In his Autumn Statement speech the Chancellor claimed to be a modern day Robin Hood: In fact, the net contribution [to austerity] of the richest 20% will be larger than the remaining 80% put together – proving we are all in this together. This is similar to an argument you…Read more…