Paul Johnson has just announced he is stepping down as Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He’s been in post since 2011…

Johnson says “after 14 years at the helm, it feels like the right time to move on and start a new chapter in my life.” He will become Provost of Queen’s College, Oxford. The IFS says the search for his replacement will “take place over the next few months.” Plenty of tax fans circling around SW1 to choose from…

Angela Rayner’s “New Deal for Working People” is set to be unveiled in parliament tomorrow after jostling over the finer details with Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds. Disgruntled union officials claim it will be a “skeleton” thanks to Labour’s promise to introduce it in the first 100 days of government…

The expectation is that a ban on zero-hours contracts will be delayed until the completion of a consultation on it and other measures. Labour has made a big deal of banning the popular contractual arrangement, claiming in its manifesto that an outright ban would be immediately enforced as one of the party’s “initial steps to confront poverty.” They might be surprised by the views of actual people…

New research from the Centre for Social Justice finds that what is dubs “precarious work” is actively sought out by 16-34-year-olds, who don’t want to see it banned and the vast majority of whom (75%) are fully satisfied with their working conditions. Satisfaction remains high at 68% among the very poorest groups surveyed and in total only 24% say they are dissatisfied. Meanwhile data newly released from the Centre for Economic Performance finds that zero-hours contracts actually attract 25% more applicants than “comparable permanent jobs.” It’s almost like having greater freedom in your work contract is progressive and popular. Labour and the unions will have to arbitrarily flood the consultation to get their preferred result…

Eyebrows have long been raised about the widely-cited “independent” Institute for Fiscal Studies report into private school VAT. It has been used to “fact check” widely-held worries that Starmer’s class war on private schools will 1) funnel unsustainable numbers of children into the state system, and 2) not raise enough money. The report has for many months been the only shield for Labour politicians seeking to bat away legitimate concerns over its tax plan…

Last week it was confirmed that already 10,540 fewer students are at private schools – and that’s before Labour’s tax is even introduced. The IFS claimed 17,000-40,000 students in total would shift to the state sector. Co-conspirators might wonder why their report is so sympathetic to Labour’s policy…

As it turns out the caveat-filled report’s only author Luke Sibieta has been close mates for years with the Labour minister responsible for its implementation. Sibieta and Matthew Pennycook lived together in the noughties – Pennycook was even Sibieta’s best man at his wedding. Details of which have been meticulously scrubbed from almost everywhere on the internet…

The government has confirmed that the business rates policy change, one half of the tax raid on private schools, “will be legislated for through a Local Government Finance Bill led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.” Pennycook’s department…

Lobby journalists treat interventions from ‘independent’ tax-fanatics at the IFS – such as today’s new call to massively hike capital gains tax – as gospel. Maybe when hacks work out that these wonks might not be as impartial as they are so desperate to appear they will treat endlesss calls for tax increases with a little more scepticism…

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…

The latest development in wonk world sees movement at the Institute of Economic Affairs. The free market think tank’s Public Policy and Communications Director Matthew Lesh is moving out of wonkery after defecting from the Adam Smith Institute and rising up the ranks at the IEA. Lesh is set to join Australian consultancy Freshwater Strategy, launched by personnel from Lynton Crosby’s CT Group, to head up its brand new London office. Don’t expect to see any less of the veteran wonk…

Last time the IEA hired internally for its communication director role. Colleagues across SW1 will be eyeing up the role…

Torsten Bell, ex-director of the left-wing Resolution Foundation turned-Labour MP, tried his best to spin Reeves’ invented justification for tax rises by arguing that Labour is only now “learning of completely irresponsible management of public spending/services“, which is somehow different from being able to read Office for Budget Responsibility public finance forecasts. Guido wonders how exactly Bell thinks the OBR calculates its forecasts then…

Bell himself was more than a few times able to chat to the OBR about all this while Resolution Foundation director. A Freedom of Information request has revealed that the think tank has had a whopping thirteen meetings over two and a half years just with the OBR. Torsten was present at the latest tête-à-tête this year…

The OBR has kept details of the meetings, which took place on average every two months, secret. Its own advisory panel is filled with tax-raising fanatics. Labour is in the awkward position of claiming the OBR doesn’t have full information while simultaneously giving it oversight of major budget decisions. Spinning itself into absurdity…