The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, can’t get the country out of a downward economic spiral by just increasing taxes in the Autumn Budget, say leading audit, tax and business advisory firm, Blick Rothenberg.
Chantal Van Stipriaan, a Partner at the firm, said, “The Office for National Statistics (ONS) latest report shows that growth is down to just 0.1%, unemployment is up to 5% and the expectation is it that this will not improve.
“The economy is in a downward spiral; Labour cannot pull the country out of the fiscal black hole with tax rises alone, ultimately, spending needs to come down and fast.
“Although investing in the NHS and taking away the 2-child benefit cap is politically popular; it will not directly grow the economy and is yet another increase to public spending that the Government must find a way to pay for.
The Chancellor likely will need to increase income tax bands and break Labour’s election tax promises to cover this and other existing costs – but a cycle of increasing taxes to pay for rising public spending is not sustainable.”
Chantal added, “The fall in Gross domestic product (GDP) in the manufacturing sector is particularly concerning, some of which is no doubt to due to the problems at Jaguar Land Rover and other factors beyond the Government’s control. But the blame for this also lies with tax decisions made in last year’s Budget, which increased the financial burden for businesses and individuals.
“Now and not later, is the time for the Chancellor’s to end short-term political gesturing and govern with a robust and long-term fiscal strategy that incentivise and attracts investment to the UK. The broadest shoulders cannot take the strain of holding up the UK’s stagnating economy forever.”
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