Want fairness? Beware the opportunistic calls for a windfall tax on energy giants JULIAN JESSOP Both the Labour and the Lib Dems have proposed a “one-off” windfall tax on the profits of UK oil and gas companies to help families struggling with their energy bills. Surely it’s only fair that giants like BP and Shell, making bumper profits, should be asked to pay a little more? Not quite. For a [...]
Let the economy reboot itself How can the government best support the UK’s economic recovery after the crushing impact of the pandemic? Today, the Institute of Economic Affairs and Civitas are publishing a joint report on the economics of the Covid-19 crisis, written by Professor Len Shackleton and myself. Many are arguing that the crisis has demonstrated the need for [...]
DEBATE: Is now the time for the UK to trial a temporary Universal Basic Income? DEBATE: Should the UK trial a temporary Universal Basic Income? Is now the time for the UK to trial a temporary Universal Basic Income? YES, says Julian Jessop, an economics fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs. In normal times, cash payments regardless of individual need would be too expensive, poorly targeted, and distortionary. It is therefore right to use existing means-tested benefits (notably universal [...]
DEBATE: Should the chancellor bend the fiscal rules to increase spending in his first Budget? March 10, 2020 Should the chancellor bend the fiscal rules to increase spending in his first Budget? Will Tanner, director of Onward, says YES. It is the prerogative of a twenty-first century chancellor to set the rules of your own tenure. Gordon Brown, George Osborne, Philip Hammond and Sajid Javid (who never delivered a Budget) all established the [...]
DEBATE: Was the collapse of Thomas Cook inevitable? September 24, 2019 Was the collapse of Thomas Cook inevitable? Julian Jessop, economics fellow at the Institute for Economic Affairs, says YES. It is sad to see the collapse of the world’s oldest travel firm, but badly run companies must be allowed to fail. There was some bad luck here, including unrest in Turkey, European heat waves, and [...]
DEBATE: Is Brexit likely to be the biggest factor behind Nissan choosing Japan over Sunderland? February 5, 2019 Bridget Phillipson, Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, says YES. Is Brexit likely to be the biggest factor behind Nissan choosing Japan over Sunderland? Nissan’s announcement was deeply disappointing, not just for Sunderland but for the north east as a whole. And it shows the reality of Brexit. Carmakers do not make these decisions [...]
Was Philip Hammond right to U-turn on his national insurance hike for the self-employed? March 15, 2017 Julian Jessop, chief economist at the Institute of Economic Affairs, says Yes. It is increasingly hard to justify why the self-employed should pay much lower national insurance contributions (NICs) than those who work for others. Nonetheless, this distortion should have been tackled as part of a fundamental rethink of the tax and benefit system, rather [...]
Spring Budget 2017: What should chancellor Philip Hammond’s headline promise be tomorrow? March 7, 2017 Sam Dumitriu, head of projects at the Adam Smith Institute, says scrap a tax: Not all taxes are created equal, but almost all deter productive activity. Philip Hammond should look to Lord Lawson’s stint where he abolished at least one tax every Budget and took an axe to top marginal rates. So where should he [...]
