No Boris, springing aimless policy promises on the public is not the way to make change
The tax burden in the UK is at a 50-year high, accounting for over 34.5 per cent of GDP.
Nevertheless, MPs from across the political spectrum like to propose new and higher taxes – the implementation of which increase the burden on families, who are already struggling from Britain’s cost of living crisis and lackluster wages.
So when a politician – any politician – comes along and calls for a halt to the rising tax burden, their sentiment should be praised. This includes Boris Johnson, who used his speech at the JCB headquarters last Friday to remind onlookers that “favourable tax environments” lead to more prosperous and wealthy countries.
The ex-foreign secretary called out those who think opposing new taxes creates a safe space for the rich. From the sugar tax to a proposed tax to support the NHS, these efforts target everyone’s purse, including the poorest in society, who are hit hardest when politicians ask them to hand over more cash to HMRC.
But what has been dubbed a “veiled leadership bid” also had hints of a veiled spending spree, in which Johnson called for “investing in great public services”, while also promising no increase in taxes.
While the tax burden might be sky-high, so is the debt burden – an estimated £1.8 trillion. Money spent is money borrowed, which is money that eventually needs to be paid back. And while not raising taxes has its benefits, including a boost to growth, younger generations will eventually have to pay for Johnson’s pledges, if growth figures can’t compensate for the extra spending.
This is not the first time Johnson has pledged money on spending projects he does not necessarily have on-hand. There’s no doubt that the Prime Minister’s gift last year to the NHS – £20.5bn per annum by 2023/4 – was partially dictated by the Vote Leave pledge during the EU referendum, to transfer £350m per week from payments to the EU to the health service.
Putting aside arguments about how much more funding the NHS needs to operate effectively, springing a policy promise on the public – without having financed it or thought it through – is not the right way to go about making change.
More money to the NHS should be going hand-in-hand with reform. Instead, more consideration seems to have been given to the politics of healthcare than to the delivery of it.
If Johnson were to rule out an unfunded spending spree to invest in public services, and having already ruled out higher taxes, he’d have to consider making tough choices on spending priorities for current services, or bring in more taxpayers to help boost revenue and to help stimulate growth. Hopefully he’d go for the former, and list what government projects (like HS2) could be slashed and which budgets can be re-prioritised, but equally he shouldn’t rule out the latter as well.
Making hints at the benefits of migration in his speech, Johnson could help to set a much more positive tone about migration to the UK. Once controlled completely by Britain, everyone stands to gain by liberalising the system, not closing the country off to those who would contribute culturally and financially to it.
Johnson hit the right notes on Friday, hailing the UK a fiscally liberal place to live and work. But at some point, he’ll need to follow up his vision with details. And that’s when we’ll learn if he’s one of the unique few in parliament trying to ease taxpayer pain, or one of the many piling on the burdens.