Funding the Future

Six ways to fill Labour’s fiscal “black hole”

Labour claims it has a “black hole” of £22 billion to fill in the government’s finances. They should stop making a fuss. Doing so would be easy. There are at least six – and maybe more – ways to do it.

Keir Starmer’s ‘vision statement’, delivered this week, was anything but that

Two months into office as prime minister Keir Starmer is claiming that we should anticipate ‘more pain’ under his leadership. That’s unsurprising. So far, he has provided no clue as to what he will ‘change’, despite that being the theme of his election campaign. Instead, he says he will struggle to deliver what the Tories promised. As early admissions of failure go, that is spectacular.

Do you only have a legal right to your income after tax, meaning the tax you pay was never yours to enjoy?

People like to claim they have a gross income out of which their tax is paid. But is that gross income ever really theirs when it comes with the legal obligation to pay tax attached to it, meaning that the tax owing always belongs to the government? And what does that do to the idea of taxpayer money?

Land value taxation is not the panacea that its proponents claim

Land value taxation is a 19th century idea that has very rarely been used. Its proponents say it is the great unavoidable tax that could potentially replace all other taxes. The problem is it is based on assumptions that might be fine in theory, but which would be incomprehensible in practice – and that’s no way to impose a tax charge.

Do we really live in a world of take it or leave it?

Politicians like to pretend that we live in a binary world. It’s us or them, they suggest. But the real world is really not like that, so are they doing us a massive disservice by pretending that politics has to work that way?

What politicians need to know about decision making

You’d think politicians should be good at decision making, but they aren’t. Of all the options available to them they usually choose prevarication when there are usually five other alternatives they could use. As a result our politicians are paralysing our political processes.

I do social media to change things

I’ve been creating social media content since 2006, whether it’s been blogs, tweets or now YouTube and TikTok videos. There’s only ever been one reason for doing so, and that has been to change the world in whatever way I can for those who get a less than fair deal from it.

Interest paid on government debt increases private wealth

Many on the political right wing obsess about interest paid on government debt as if it disappears into some black hole. It doesn’t. It’s just interest paid on savings deposited with the government and there’s been nothing excessive about its overall cost of late.

You can’t base macroeconomics on microeconomics

Macroeconomics suggests how governments work. But at present it’s almost all based on microeconomics, which is about how individuals, households and companies work. But that’s absurd when micro entities and governments are completely different as to purpose, goals and the tools available to change outcomes. No wonder we’re in a mess.

Why are we still giving limited liability to almost anyone who asks for it?

We’ve had limited liability companies in their current form for about 170 years now, but no one back then imagined we’d have more than five million of them. So, are we really doing the right thing giving limited liability to anyone who asks for it now, or should we be more circumspect?