Report

Taxing questions

This report from UK think tank the Fabian Society sets out how the chancellor can raise the revenue we need to invest in public services.

The chancellor will have to make some difficult decisions ahead of the upcoming autumn budget. In particular, she faces a fiscal gap of over £20bn if she wants to stick within her fiscal rules. With public services on their knees, cutting spending looks neither practically deliverable nor politically possible. Changing the fiscal rules, on the other hand, risks increasing debt costs. Increasing government revenue is the remaining option.

This edited collection sets out how the chancellor can raise the revenue we need to invest in public services. It brings together leading MPs, economists and policy experts to set out options for tax increases that would be progressive, that would avoid undermining the growth potential of the economy, and that would be in keeping with Labour’s manifesto. It also includes an alternative view, which sets out the case for changing the fiscal rules.