The economic duplicity of this so-called Labour government is off the scale. Contrary to the propaganda peddled by the political class and corporate media, taxation does NOT pay for government expenditure.
Raising the basic rate of tax will not ease austerity; it will exacerbate it by taking money out of the pockets of millions who are already struggling to afford monthly household bills.
Furthermore, reducing the income of ordinary workers by increasing income tax will have a negative impact on economic growth because it will diminish aggregate demand in the economy.
What the government should do to end austerity is:
▪︎ reduce the basic rate of income tax
▪︎ introduce a higher minimum wage
▪︎ scrap the two-child benefit cap
▪︎ increase social security payments
▪︎ start a massive council house building programme
▪︎ regulate private sector rents
▪︎ remove the private sector spivs from the #NHS and every other public service
▪︎ renationalise all the utilities
▪︎ invest in modernising our crumbling infrastructure
The political propaganda merchants and the economically illiterate commentariat will say, “How will you pay for such an ambitious programme.”
The flip answer to that question is “with money.” But what do I mean by that? Well, the government owns the Bank of England and therefore has access to all the money it needs because it issues the currency.
The only restriction on the programme I have set out above is the availability of real resources in the economy. In others the availability of workers, raw materials, machinery, and land, etc. As long as that constraint is observed, there is no inflationary pressure from government spending.
So a good society is achievable; it just requires political will. As Tony Benn used to say, “If we can afford the money to kill people, we can afford the money to help people.
Tragically, this government’s priority is on killing people by throwing money at prolonging NATO’s proxy war in #Ukraine and increasing military spending at home.
We deserve better.
