𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Former chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered two absolute stinkers. The first hiked taxes by £40 billion, the biggest raid in 30 years, the second by another £26 billion. Even before she delivered her Budgets, the damage was done. We had months and months of speculation, all focusing on how hard Labour was going to hit us. Then, when the Budgets landed, the tax grab was even bigger than we feared. And so was the damage.

Keir Starmer and Reeves inherited an economy that was finally showing signs of life after the ravages of the pandemic and inflationary shock. ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner had even described it as “going gangbusters”. Only a lunatic or Ed Miliband would make such a claim today. Growth has slowed to a crawl, and we’re all feeling even poorer.

PM Andy Burnham claims he wants to ease the cost-of-living crisis, but one reason people are struggling is that taxes have been hiked dramatically. That process started under the Tories, was accelerated under Reeves, and now we’re going to have to go through it all over again. Will this never end?

Chancellor John Healey hoped to borrow more from the bond market, only to discover it isn’t too keen. Bond investors fear governments everywhere are borrowing and spending too much, especially the US, the French and the UK. Our borrowing costs have soared, with 30-year gilt yields recently hitting their highest level since 1998. Back then, our debt pile was a fraction of today’s £3 trillion mountain.

Once again, rumours are swirling about which taxes Andy Burnham and Healey are going to hike. Will it be the mansion tax? A new land tax? Capital gains tax? Pension tax-free cash? Savings? ISAs? Inheritances? I’ve even seen suggestions that Andy Burnham will extend the income tax threshold freeze for another year, to 2032. Windfall taxes on banks and oil companies are in the mix, too.

It feels just like before Reeves’s first Budget. And her second. The madness has gone so far that even former Labour chancellor Gordon Brown, who wasn’t averse to a spot of taxing and borrowing himself, is warning of the danger. This is a man who lifted the national debt from 40% to 60% of GDP, single-handedly.

Speaking on The Rest Is Money podcast, Brown said UK property is already “taxed quite heavily”, citing stamp duty and council tax. He also warned against rushing into a wealth tax, saying it could drive more high-net-worth individuals and entrepreneurs out of the country.

When you’ve reached the point where even Brown thinks Labour is taxing too much, it really is time for John Healey to rein it in. It doesn’t seem like he will, though.

And so here we are again, dreading a third tax-hiking Budget, one that could potentially kill what little life the economy has left. If even Gordon Brown can see the danger, it’s time Burnham and Healey realised it too.