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Sam Freedman Profile picture
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7 Sep, 4 tweets, 1 min read
Pedantically entertained that they started the graph in 1950 otherwise it would have shown taxes were higher a few years after the war and that the headline was wrong.
But also the Telegraph should be pleased it's like the War again when Britain was great; men were men etc etc...
Of the course the "death knell of Conservatism" line is absolute nonsense. The only consistent principle of Conservatism (not conservatism) is to retain power or get it back. From the Second Reform Act to tariffs to tax rises. Whatever it takes.
The Tories (including coalitions) have been in power in 73 of the last 100 years. This is what they do.

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More from @Samfr

Sam Freedman Profile picture
9 Sep
The NHS budget increase means it will represent 44% of all public service spending in 2024/25 up from 27% in 1999-2000. The real story of austerity is not a reduction in the size of the state but the NHS (and pensions) sucking up all the cash.
Covid will hopefully be a one off but the demographic and healthcare trends driving this aren't going away. At some point it stops being sustainable without some radical thinking or technological change.
Another way of expressing the issue. In cash terms grants to local authorities have fallen by 30% since 2010 and *before covid* the NHS budget had increase by 20% since 2010.
Read 4 tweets
Sam Freedman Profile picture
8 Sep
An army of 42 people is a shit army. That's not even going to be able to invade Andorra.
Nice example of a common maths confusion. £9M (combined salary of said army) is 0.025% of £36bn. But people find it intuitively hard to conceptualize the different between a million and a billion.
The classic example is a million seconds is 11.5 days and a billion seconds is just under 32 years.
Read 5 tweets
Sam Freedman Profile picture
7 Sep
Quick take on the announcement:

1) No issues with tax increases but it's the wrong taxes. Should be done through taxing wealth and higher incomes. Should hit me a lot more than this levy does and low paid workers a lot less.
2) Creating a new tax - a third tax on income - seems batshit when we already have two that could be used (if you want to use that method). God knows how many un-thought-through problems will emerge over the next few days.
3) Most of this money goes to the NHS and though the claim is that more of it will go to social care as costs increase after 2025 that will not happen in practice. NHS budget will not be cut. So really this pushes the problem of paying for social care into the next Parliament.
Read 9 tweets
Sam Freedman Profile picture
6 Sep
The most annoying thing about the NI row is the reinforcement of the idea that you can "pay" for long term recurring spending with a specific unhypothecated tax increase or spending cut. There's just one big pot of cash.
Maybe some new variant of covid leads to £10bn extra costs next year. Or a military involvement or cost of debt repayment increases more than expected. What "pays" for that?! Doesn't make any sense.
The real Qs are how much do we need to spend on social care vs other priorities. And what is the best way to raise the overall amount of money we need. Imaginary hypothecation is just fantasy politics to make people see a connection that isn't there.
Read 4 tweets
Sam Freedman Profile picture
6 Sep
I think this is true of broad base taxes. People definitely prefer NI and VAT increases to income tax because it's more indirect in it's impact and in the case of NI is still thought to be hypothecated when it isn't. But less true re: wealth taxes.
There is a specific issue with inheritence tac in that far more people worry they'll pay it than actually do. But an increase in capital gains tax would not be unpopular; nor would a wealth tax on £1m+ homes; or a higher rate of income tax for £150k+ incomes.
Obviously punitive versions of these taxes could have a negative economic impact but reasonable versions would be good policy and a revenue earner, albeit they don't raise as much as small increases in broad base taxes.
Read 4 tweets
Sam Freedman Profile picture
4 Sep
In response to this a few people have said I should do one for hiring organisations about how they can improve their recruitment process and make it fairer. So here are my tips for that...
1. Short job descriptions that are absolutely clear what the job is and what the requirements are. In clear English. No "you will need to strategically integrate synergies across networks". If you can't do this you don't know what the job is.
2. If you know you are going to appoint an internal candidate, do not go external. It is deeply unfair on all the people who will spend time and effort on an application and possibly interview so you can show a Potemkin process.
Read 11 tweets

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