• Syldon
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    9 months ago

    Your numbers are a wee bit off,

    Hands up, you are correct. I edited the post with correct figures.

    They mention three conservative government policies which they claim are causing harm to us

    I think you are reading an interpretation that is not there. They do not claim any policy is harming us. They state the facts of where the largest tax rises are coming from which is very near the wording of the report. The actual IFS report is here.

    The guardian states the report is damaging because of the conference next week. It is trying to stir up anxiety among Tory party members, but it does not cast aspersions over which tax increases are good or bad.

    I agree the windfall tax is just a sham. I would be very surprised if we see any receipts at all. They built huge cop out options into the bill. Shell have declared a reduction in investment because of the windfall tax while only paying £134m to the government from a worldwide £40b profit. The whole process is nothing more than a façade.

    • Blake [he/him]
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      9 months ago

      “Causing harm to us” was my short-hand interpretation - I’m just a guy writing internet comments, they don’t have to be perfect - but I don’t think it’s an unfair reading of the article.

      Acting like their analysis is unfeeling and unpolitical is classic IFS bullshit. Raising corporation tax, energy profit levy and top rate income tax are all good things and you want me to complain about it just because the Tories are doing it? Is tribalism more important than policy?

      I’d call out this crap regardless of who’s in power because it’s just typical neoliberal “taxes are always bad” bullshit. Tax the shit out of corporations and the wealthy, please.

      • Syldon
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        9 months ago

        I don’t think they are saying the taxes are bad. Every media report will have a bias. The best place to recognise that bias is to follow the money trail. And if you look to the bottom of the report, it was commissioned by ESRC and the Nuffield foundation. The ESRC are independent and rarely get involved in the subject of reports. Nuffield are an independent body usually recognised for reporting on the NHS. The IFS only create the report, they have not chosen the subject matter.

        The timing and content of the report is clearly aimed at the Tory conference with the intent of highlighting just how badly the country is performing.

        • Blake [he/him]
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          9 months ago

          I don’t think they are saying the taxes are bad

          Come on, stop arguing that black is white. The article calls the report damaging and even you said that it highlights how badly the country is performing. The article very clearly has the message of “isn’t it bad how much the Tories have raised taxes?”

          Why are you like, arguing about this? I don’t really understand.

          There are biases beyond who funds the report. Neoliberalism is biased against taxes, economists are overwhelmingly neoliberal and the think-tank is a group of economists. It’s not that complex, really.