Starmer is talking bollocks.
There is no need for a round of further Tory austerity. There are many ways of raising the necessary billions, if only he and Reeves could ditch their craven adherence to neoliberal ideology and 'fiscal rectitude'.
They could start by taxing capital gains at the same rate as income tax and restricting pension tax relief to the basic rate. This would more than cover their fictional £22bn black hole.
@junesim63 Yes, we've set out the key parameters of what's needed, here:
https://gettingreal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Stop-the-Damage-Build-a-Better-full-v-5.pdf
@junesim63 55% tax on income over £1 million a year
@junesim63
As it was in my youth when the top marginal tax rate on earned income was 97.5% (1952) and the top rate on investment income was 90% (1971-1974). Those were the days when we had public services and hardly any need for food banks. Correlation may just be causation in this case.
@tompearce49 @junesim63 Absolutely. Labour turning Thatcherite (Kinnock to Blair) was the end of a once meaningful movement.
@junesim63 @Tooden But why would neoliberals ditch neoliberal ideology?
The torylite are now in office.
Starmer is pretending government spending is like a household budget, but why?
My guess is that he is being controlled by somebody, who wants the government to do things that help them, not us.
@junesim63
Tax fossil fuel companies instead of giving them subsidies - at the moment we are just paying for our own species' execution.
@junesim63 Still looking for anything progressive from Starmer.
@junesim63 All Tory austerity did was fuck everyone that's not a millionaire.
- Immediately tax the rich
- Fund councils
- Stop privatisation of the NHS
- Pay working people