Frances Ryan is right to highlight the increasing consensus between Labour and the Tories on cutting taxation, including its negative consequences for much-needed investment in public services and the reduction of destitution, poverty and inequality (I believe taxation is a great public good, but I look at my tax return and ask: what are we paying for?, 11 January).
Adopting this government’s approach to fiscal responsibility, as Labour seem set on, will only widen inequalities and its damaging consequences for children’s health, education and wellbeing, as comprehensively evidenced by Sir Michael Marmot’s 2020 review. And what is so blinkered is Labour’s failure to engage the public with the short- and longer-term personal and economic costs of maintaining the status quo on taxation. Even a modest approach to progressive taxation would provide the funding to shift Labour’s policy agenda from piecemeal tinkering to reform, from rationing to needs-led public services – offering a progressive vision to win the hearts and minds of the electorate.
Prof Mike Stein
University of York
