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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly planning to impose highest tax burden in 70 years

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson may introduce the highest tax burden on the British public in 70 years, amid record spending during the coronavirus pandemic and plans to tax the young and working-class for new National Insurance subsidies.

Boris Johnson’s government is reportedly planning on increasing National Insurance contributions in order to help fund the National Health Service (NHS) and care reforms. Should the changes go through, it would go against the 2019 Tory Party election manifesto commitments not to raise taxes.

A report from the Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) found that if the government increases National Insurance (NI) contributions by one per cent, then the tax burden compared to gross domestic product (GDP) would reach 35.4 per cent by the 2024/25 fiscal year, The Telegraph reported. Should the government increase NI by two per cent, then the tax burden would reach 35.4 per cent by 2023/24.

If the projections from the think tank holds true, then Johnson’s government would have imposed the highest tax burden on Britons since the government of socialist Clement Atlee in 1951, when it reached 36.1 per cent compared to GDP.

Research director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, Duncan Simpson said: “Boris’s broken promises would leave working people facing the highest tax bills in a generation. Rather than look for a sustainable solution to social care through automation and finding savings, the PM’s plan would opt to hammer jobs and wages, with higher taxes than we’ve seen since the years after the war.”

Johnson has already received warnings from within his own government that such a move could spell disaster for the Conservative Party. Cabinet member and the leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg wrote in the Sunday Express about the historical example of former American president George Bush Sr. suffering a disastrous political defeat to Bill Clinton after he broke his “read my lips, no new taxes” pledge. “Voters remembered these words after President Bush had forgotten them,” Rees-Mogg.

ARTICLE: PAUL MURDOCH

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE
PHOTO CREDITS: POLITICAL VIEWER

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Paul Murdoch

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

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