Responding to the Chancellor’s Budget, CPS Director Robert Colvile said:
‘Labour came into power promising to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7. And the Chancellor opened her Budget by saying that the route to growth was to ‘Invest. Invest. Invest’. But by hammering the private sector, she has delivered a Budget which – as the Office for Budget Responsibility’s own figures show – will reduce business investment, trade and private sector activity, propping up the economy via higher state spending.
‘A party which promised no tax rises for working people has today committed to £40 billion in tax rises, the centrepiece of which is a massive tax hike for businesses through an increase in employer’s National Insurance – the vast bulk of which ultimately falls on workers themselves – plus a reduction in the threshold at which it is paid. This increases the cost of employing workers, especially those who earn least.
‘Along with increases to capital gains tax, stamp duty, energy taxes, inheritance taxes, cuts to agricultural and business reliefs, and the abolition of non-dom status, the Chancellor will have made existing investors very nervous about continuing to do business in Britain and sent a powerful anti-growth message to overseas investors.
‘The Budget also leaves Britain with staggeringly high – and historically unprecedented – levels of tax and spending, with growth forecasts well below the levels required to sustain even current levels of welfare spending, never mind meet the demands of an ageing population.’
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- For more information, please contact Emma Revell, External Affairs Director, on 07931 698246 or [email protected], and Josh Coupland on 07912 485655 or [email protected]
- The Centre for Policy Studies plans to release more comprehensive analysis tomorrow, Thursday 31 October
- Previous CPS reports relating to announcements in today’s Budget include
- The Centre for Policy Studies is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster. With a focus on taxation, economic growth, business, welfare, education, housing and green growth, its goal is to develop policies that widen enterprise, ownership and opportunity.
Date Added: Wednesday 30th October 2024
