The CenTax team attended the Labour and Conservative party conferences again this year, hosting four panels in total, alongside the Chartered Institute for Taxation (CIOT), the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS).
There was an overarching consensus across all our events that we need to see structural tax reforms at the next Budget to remove distortions and boost growth, not just more tinkering with tax rates. Our Directors, Arun Advani and Andy Summers, argued that our current tax system is so badly designed that there are still plenty of opportunities to both raise revenue and improve economic incentives. They expressed hope that the self-imposed constraints of the Labour Manifesto might finally prompt the hard thinking about reforms to the tax base that is needed.
Labour Party Conference
At Labour Party Conference, we hosted two panels. The first, co-hosted with IPPR discussed asked ‘How can we fund public services?’ We were delighted to be joined by Dan Tomlinson MP in his new role as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. He spoke of his ‘obsession with growth’ and how he would be viewing Budget options with this in mind. CenTax Director Dr Andy Summers was also joined by Yuan Yang MP, member of the Treasury Select Committee and Heather Stewart, Economics Editor at the Guardian. We’re grateful to Carsten Jung from the IPPR who chaired the discussion. You can watch the discussion here.
We also hosted a panel with the CIOT, on ‘Can we design a tax system which taxes the wealthy and is pro-growth?’ CenTax Director Dr Arun Advani argued that Capital Gains Tax (CGT) reform was a prime example of the opportunity to both raise revenue and improve efficiency, but by reforming the tax base, not just increasing rates. You can read our proposals for reforming CGT here. We’re grateful to Lloyd Hatton MP, Emma Chamberlain OBE and Gemma Tetlow (Institute for Government) for their insightful contributions to this discussion, and to Nichola Ross Martin from CIOT for chairing. You can watch and read more about our panel event with CIOT here.
We were also pleased to meet with farming bodies and MPs at the reception of the Labour Rural Research Group, where National Farmers Union (NFU) President Tom Bradshaw welcomed CenTax’s recent paper on the impact of recent changes to Inheritance Tax and its options for reform. The Sunday Times has recently reported that these options are being considered by the Government.
Conservative Party Conference
We also hosted two panel events at Conservative Party Conference. The first, also with CIOT, asked ‘Can we design a tax system which taxes wealth and capital fairly and is pro-growth?’ It was fantastic to be joined by the Rt Hon John Glen MP (previously City Minister, and now PPS to the Leader of the Opposition) and John Barnett (Vice President of CIOT). CenTax Director Dr Andy Summers highlighted that Chancellor Nigel Lawson’s 1988 Budget was the last Budget with a strategic direction for tax reform and encouraged a return to thinking seriously about design of the tax base. You can watch the debate and read CIOT’s excellent write-up here.
We were also delighted to co-host a panel event with the Centre for Policy Studies, where CenTax Director Arun Advani was joined by Daniel Herring of CPS and Harriet Baldwin MP (previously Chair of the Treasury Committee and current Shadow Business Minister). Arun highlighted several areas of the tax system that currently disrort economic activity, including the £100k ‘tax trap’ created by the withdrawal of childcare support, arguing “it’s a real cost that people who are doing well and could be earning even higher incomes and paying even more tax are reducing their hours or not taking that promotion.” You can watch the debate here.
