The chancellor has said the government will likely raise some taxes in October’s Budget after months of speculation about Labour’s stance on tax. I think we will have to increase taxes in the Budget,” Rachel Reeves told the News Agents podcast.
She was responding to a question about raising money following her claim on Monday that the previous government left a £22bn “hole” in the public finances. Labour said repeatedly during the election campaign there would be no tax rises on “working people”, but the Conservatives had insisted Labour would increase them.
Speaking on the podcast, the chancellor was pushed on which taxes the government would raise. Ms Reeves reiterrated that the government would not raise VAT, national insurance or income tax, as promised in Labour’s manifesto, but she did not rule out increasing inheritance tax, capital gains tax or pension reform.
The government has already announced details of how it will add value added tax (VAT) to private school fees at the standard rate of 20% to fund 6,500 new teachers in England.
“I’m not going to write a Budget or start to write a Budget on this podcast,” she said, adding that Labour wants to stick to “sensible” rules aimed at bringing the government’s longer-term debts down. Ms Reeves’ comment comes after she scrapped a number of infrastructure projects, and announced the winter fuel allowance for pensions would be means-tested, as part of a series of measures aimed at addressing a shortfall in the public finances.
Source: BBC
In other news – Snoop Dogg turns heads with his own fashion show in Paris Olympics
Snoop Dogg dons an Olympics tracksuit as a torchbearer ahead of the July 26 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and then the rapper continued to make headlines with his custom T-shirts during the global sporting event.
While watching the Olympics and providing televised commentary for NBC, Snoop Dogg wore white shirts as he featured the popular Team USA Olympians. Read more
