Left-wing think tank the IPPR is today pushing for tax hikes on wealth to address “regional wealth inequality.” Because capital gains are realised in London and the South East apparently that means opportunity” is “not accessible across the UK”…

The chief recommendation of the IPPR to “regionally rebalance the UK” is a gargantuan tax hike:

“Taxing all income equally: In the long-term we propose a unified tax schedule for all income types, including capital gains and dividends, to align with income from work by the end of this parliament. In the short-term, we propose the equalisation of capital gains tax with income tax implemented at the first fiscal event of this parliament.”

The IPPR is dressing up old ideas to roll the pitch for Reeves’ October budget. This exact policy was proposed in a 2018 report from the think tank which was co-written by one Carys Roberts. Roberts, former IPPR executive director, is now ensconced in Downing Street’s policy unit, working alongside fellow ex-director Rachel Statham. The capitalism-sceptic think tank is said to be “doing the most serious and influential policy work around the Labour party.” That work can accelerate now its personnel are at the heart of policy making in government…

The same 2018 report called for the replacement of inheritance tax with a whole-life gift tax, which is effectively a gargantuan enlargement of confiscation of family inheritance. As Guido revealed plugged-in tax lawyers are in active preparation for its imposition….

Reeves yesterday stoutly refused to rule out changes to capital gains or inheritance tax. This “Iron Chancellor” hogwash ain’t gonna last…

Starmer is putting together Downing Street’s policy unit this week. Two recent hires caught Guido’s eye: the executive and associate directors of the left-wing IPPR think tank. Executive Director Carys Roberts’ personal mission is to increase taxes on employees and on wealth. She co-wrote a report which advocated for a radical proposal to combine employee NICs and income tax, apply them to all incomes on an annual basis, and apply a gradually rising marginal tax rate as income rises. A massive radical increase on “working people”…

Roberts’ passion is taxation of savers through the abolition of capital gains and dividend taxes in order to tax them as highly as income. Her report also called for the replacement of inheritance tax with a whole-life gift tax – effectively a gargantuan enlargement of confiscation of family inheritance. She personally supported John McDonnell’s plans to hike wealth taxes as well as to mandatorily reduce working hours. Savers won’t be happy, they’re also “working people” according to Reeves…

Associate Director Rachel Statham, meanwhile, has consistently advocated for large increases in benefits, wage controls, and higher taxes. A redistributionist who thinks that benefits “fall far short of what’s needed to meet an acceptable basic standard of living“, she said exactly a month ago that “to keep the 2-child limit is to plan for substantial increases in child poverty over the next parliament.” Labour is actively filling the heart of government policy with high-tax high-benefit fanatics. Good luck to people who expect “fiscal responsibility” to last…

With Starmer and Reeves playing it safe on tax issues, the fanatic think tanks and charities have turned to Scotland to push for socialist policy.

The leftist Institute for Public Policy Research and Oxfam Scotland are leading the charge and have called on the SNP to introduce, among other tax increases, a “local” inheritance tax on all estates worth over £36,000. Among the usual leftie charity suspects, the proposals are bizarrely officially supported by cycling organisation Sustrans, custodian of the National Cycle Network whose employees are heavily embedded in local councils and national agencies. When even the office cycling rep is campaigning for more tax, there might be a problem…

Cycling fans might wonder why their donations are funding high-gear political activism. Sustrans has previously received over £92 million in taxpayer funds to institute Low-Traffic Networks for local authorities. The high-tax activists have no brakes…

IPPR North, the Northern office of the left-wing IPPR think-tank – is arguing that decarbonising the North’s housing stock could directly generate 77,000 jobs and £38.5 billion in gross value added (GVA) by 2035, this would be achieved after a taxpayer subsidy of £143 billion. £143 billion. This is not a typo.

The IPPR argues that social housing providers are key players in delivering decarbonisation at scale and developing the private-sector supply chain. They argue that taxpayers should fund a 10-year programme of subsidy into social housing and retrofitting new boiler systems. They claim it will generate 77,000 jobs, which works out at a mere £1,857,142 for each job – a bargain. This is the green economics madhouse.

£143 billion is almost an entire year’s income tax revenue, it is three times the defence budget, it is, in other words a stupendous figure. It represents a tsunami of taxpayers’ money going where? To the sponsors of IPPR’s report of course.

The publication was sponsored by the Northern Housing Consortium with the logos of not-for-profit housing associations prominently displayed. There was no mention of the dozens of property developers, property service companies, plumbers, builders, roofers, construction firms and boiler fitters who will stand to profit from the green gold rush.

Guido has nothing against the green upgrading of homes, he just thinks the taxpayer should not be on the hook for it. Are all those corporations who have concreted over so much of the North in it just to save the planet? Of course not, they’re in it to make billions in profits snatched off taxpayers…

£39,584,172 of taxpayers’ money was funnelled to left-wing lobby groups, new research from the Taxpayers’ Alliance has revealed. Between the years 2017 and 2019, groups arguing for higher taxes, spending, and in favour of a greater regulatory burden were flush with money – handed to them by the Government they campaign against…

Taxpayer funding went to the socialist Fabian Society, anti-growth New Economics Foundation, and anti-trade deal ‘War on Want’. Other cash that was splurged on left wing campaigners included:

• £215,000 given to the IPPR, a left wing “progressive policy” think tank, which lobbies for higher taxes and government spending.
• £978,000 handed over to Rosa, an organisation that claimed last year “The Conservative government is actively selling off our NHS to the US.”
• £185,759 sloshed over to nanny state lobby group Alcohol Change UK which pushes the Government to further increase the price of alcohol.
• £228,000 forked out to the British Youth Council, an organisation that runs the ‘Youth Parliament‘, lobbying the government to lower the franchise to include children, and supports nationalised transport.

No need to ask these left-wing groups ‘who funds you’. The answer is usually ‘the taxpayer’…