A long-term plan is needed to get the country out of its financial hole
However, such measures risk being self-defeating. Those who are unable or unwilling to leave the country will bear the brunt of the tax rises. That includes standard and higher-rate taxpayers. Every pound the Government extracts from their bank accounts is a pound that cannot be spent on businesses that provide goods and services. Thus, businesses will take another hit which, in turn, will reduce their tax payments.
Since the failure of the Truss administration, there has been no long-term plan to get the country out of its financial hole. Eventually, there will have to be one and it will likely involve curbing the insatiable appetite of government to control and spend. When such a plan sees the light of day we may be surprised at the boost it gives to confidence and investment.
David Porter
Plymouth, Devon
SIR – Labour dug itself a financial hole when it pledged not to increase National Insurance (NI), VAT or income tax rates.
Instead of imposing VAT on private schools and possibly even on private health, a simple 1 or 2 per cent rise on NI and/or the basic rate of income tax would have solved the Chancellor's problems. Now she is having to cast her net wider – and creating more problems as a result.
John Tilsiter
Radlett, Hertfordshire
SIR – Taxing jobs and taxing capital is not going to result in economic growth. Is it too much to expect a former Bank of England economist to grasp this?
Patrick Loxdale
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion
SIR – There is a limit to which any economy can be taxed. The UK is at that limit. The British public understands this.
It is plain that public sector expenditure must be cut to balance the books. Given the Government throws billions around like confetti – on the Chagos Islands, the immigration fiasco, welfare, public sector pay rises, excessive numbers of civil servants – there is much low-hanging fruit.
The economy is being badly managed as never before. Enough is enough. Please can we have some economic sanity.
Stuart Moore
Bramham, West Yorkshire
SIR – Having continually criticised the Conservatives for the last 12 months for creating a £22bn black hole in the public finances, I trust Labour will now be constantly criticising itself for doubling the deficit.
Paul Webster
Dyserth, Denbighshire
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