CenTax was represented at both Labour and Conservative party conferences this autumn by Dr Arun Advani, who took part in two panel discussions.

What tax reforms could help a Labour government pay for public services?

On September 24 Dr Advani took part in a panel at the ACC, Liverpool alongside Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray MP, Yuan Yang MP (Earley and Woodley) and Robert Palmer, Executive Director of Tax Justice UK. 

The panel was chaired by Victoria Barlow and the packed room discussed the key challenges facing the new Government, which must reconcile investment in public services with the party’s fiscal rules and its stated position that you cannot tax and spend your way to growth.

Commenting on Labour’s pre-conference commitment not to raise income tax or national insurance contributions, Arun told the panel “Personally, I think this is a fantastic decision to have made.  To pay for more public services, we’re going to need to raise taxes – but the tax system in this country doesn’t work very well.

“The prize is really large – if we design the tax system better, you can get more money, you can make the tax system fairer, and you can improve innovation, productivity and growth.”

Watch the New Statesman video report of the event

Taxing Times – how the Conservatives can form tax policies in opposition

October 1 saw Dr Advani representing CenTax at Conservative Party Conference in the Onward Marquee, alongside Nick Timothy MP (West Suffolk), Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government, and Kate Andrews, Economics Editor at The Spectator. 

The panel was chaired by Shivani H. Menon, Onward’s Deputy Head of Research, and was extremely well-attended. Responding to opening remakes by Nick Timothy and Kate Andrews, Arun said “Part of what the Conservative party needs to do now is to think about how to develop a distinctive, Conservative agenda for what tax reform will look like in the future. Both because, as an opposition party, it is there to hold the government to account, but also because when the next election comes up, the party will need to be in a position to say ‘here is what we will do differently’ – what is the conservative view on government spending? What size of state do we want? What are we going to do about pensions and social care?

“It’s important to work out what this agenda will mean in terms of where the tax system needs to be. And for the first time in 14 years the party will be doing this without the help of the Civil Service.”

Arun recommended that the party should decide what the size of the state should be, and then review how to reform the tax system to adequately and efficiently resource it.

Watch the Onward Livestream here

Reflecting on both events, Arun said “It is often said that a week is a long time in politics – and it was definitely true for us! Right up until the summer, as we were planning these panels, the Conservatives were in government and Labour in opposition.

“It has been fascinating to see how the switch in responsibilities affected the mood of both conferences – and what didn’t change.

“Our panel members and guests, on both sides of the political divide, were interested to hear about CenTax’s work and what it might mean in practical policy terms.

“I’m grateful to the New Statesman and to Onward for all they did behind the scenes to make our fringe debuts a success.” 

29 October 2024