The trouble with promising tax cuts we can’t afford
Beware politicians offering to make cuts to the tax burden, says James Moore: given the alarming state of UK plc, any such pledges will either be junked after polling day – or will ‘salt the ground’ for the incoming administration
When I heard that the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) had called on British politicians to show greater honesty when talking about the nation’s shaky finances, I thought: Really? In an election year?
The studiously non-partisan financial think tank has taken a look at what the two main parties have been saying, set against the daunting fiscal backdrop that Britain must contend with. Needless to say, it doesn’t make for a pretty picture. Think one of those headache-inducing splashes of violent colour one might see hanging in the Tate.
The principal problem faced by the nation is that the economy is chugging along like a banged-up old East German Trabant with a hairdryer for an engine. It is hard to see that changing, at least in the short term.
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