Labour’s muddled definition of “working people” has now shifted three times in a week, adding to the farcical spectacle surrounding their manifesto tax pledges. Yesterday, Keir Starmer said that Britons earning income from shares or property aren’t “working people.” Sparking fresh fears of looming tax hikes for investors…

In a failed attempt to clarify the “working people” line, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, made the morning media rounds. Speaking on the Today Programme, he was asked six times a simple question: “Do landlords work?” And six times, he dodged the question, hiding behind a stream of evasive waffle instead:

This won’t be music to the ears of 2.82 million private landlords in the UK, who now brace for the potential of steep tax hikes in the upcoming budget. Labour has taken the “campaign in poetry, govern in prose” approach to whole new level…

Businesses continue to vote with their feet and shut up shop, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down, even before the budget is unveiled. So far this month, over 1,600 members’ voluntary liquidations have been recorded, according to filings with The Gazette. More than double the level for the whole of October last year. Business owners are heading for the hills, taking UK job prospects with them… 

The uptick in liquidations has been blamed on Reeves’ looming capital gains tax hike and expected cuts to business asset disposal relief. Keeping capital and business in Labour’s Britain is far from attractive – and this is before any tax hikes have been formally announced. Imagine the exodus after Halloween…

New data just released by HMRC shows Capital Gains Tax receipts have shot up by 16.3% in the third quarter ahead of the budget. Coming in at £572 million from July to September – compared to £492 million in 2023. Realise your gains, realise your gains…

September’s CGT receipts hit £192 million, which is the highest figure since 2008. Inheritance Tax receipts, boosted by frozen thresholds, hit £4.3 billion between April and September, a 10% increase on the year before. Evidence shows that people actually give up the ghost to avoid the death tax…

Starmer’s personal firefighting over budget speculation on an incoming Capital Gains hike hasn’t worked, then. More evidence of the Laffer Curve in action will likely present itself if Reeves chooses to hike CGT in the budget – HMRC itself predicts a 10% hike would lower revenues by £2 billion. Labour’s tax crosshairs are clearly set on growth-promoting wealth…

It’s more bad news for those hoping for economic growth. A new report from Liz Truss’ Growth Commission reveals that the upcoming Autumn Budget could create a staggering £84 billion “black hole” in public finances. Proposed tax raids on capital gains, inheritance, national insurance, and several other areas are set to see the UK’s GDP growth per capita drop by an alarming 8.8% by 2030. Leaving every person in the UK £3,788 poorer than they would be without Labour’s heavy-handed approach…

While Rachel Reeves points to her own “black hole”—currently *checks notes* at £40 billion—as justification for these tax raids, she’s creating a much larger problem for herself. The proposed tax increases would likely overshadow the modest economic boost expected from Labour’s planning reforms, which are projected to add just 0.8% to GDP per capita by 2030. Reeves has been warned…

Care Minister Stephen Kinnock was asked a pretty simple question ahead of the budget this morning: “Are six-figure earners working people?” No response – six times in a row…

Kinnock eventually said Labour hadn’t worked out what a “working person” was yet: “Obviously the definitions have to be seen in the round and that’s what’s going to be put on the table.” Rachel Reeves made it clear, though, what the party’s definition of working people was during the election campaign: “Working people are people who get their income from going out to work everyday, and also pensioners that have worked all their lives and are now in retirement.” Which obviously includes those who receive a large salary…

Kinnock just said: “our manifesto made it absolutely clear that we will not be raising National Insurance income tax or VAT on working people.” A cynical combination of two entirely different sentences in the manifesto…

Streeting said yesterday that Labour’s “focus” when it came to not hiking taxes was on “people who are on lower or middle ­incomes.” It only took a hundred days for Labour to give up its growth-friendly façade…

Amid the flurry of pre-budget briefing the FT now reports that Reeves will extend Sunak’s 2021 income tax threshold freeze beyond 2028, when it was due to end. The current threshold freeze will raise more than £33.5bn by 2029 and will drag 3.8 million more taxpayers into the additional rate band….

The stealth tax was a big focus for Labour’s attack operation before the election. Reeves said last year “Labour aims to lift a freeze on tax thresholds that is on track to cost workers on the basic 20% rate of income tax £750 a year each.” The party’s assault on the “25 Tory Tax Rises” singled out thresholds in particular: “Labour has found that Tory stealth tax rises over the next two years have hit the average sales assistant with a £660 tax bombshell.” Not only will Reeves not reverse the tresholds – she is specifically set to make the “bombshell” worse for longer…

Labour claims that the manifesto pledges won’t be broken with this because Labour only pledged to keep rates at the same level. The public are sure to be sympathetic…