Darren Jones’ day job, when he is not disseminating misleading information about migrants, is Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in which capacity he frequently appears on television to defend the government’s economic record , for which he is partly responsible.An interesting article by Claire Tominey in today’s ’Telegraph’ reveals the extent to which he and Rachel from Accounts have been influenced by two academics, Arun Advani (a Labour activist) and Andy Summers, who run something called the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation or CenTax. CenTax advocated the tax raid on family farms, projecting that it would raise £520 million while affecting only 500 farms. The OBR, in contrast, has said that it is uncertain how much tax will be raised while the CBI calculates that it will actually cost the Treasury £1.9 billion over the next five years. And far from 500 farms being affected, it seems that the true number could be more than 40 000. A survey has revealed that 10% of farmers expect an inheritance tax bill of £1 million while 30% expect to pay £500k.CenTax also influenced Labour’s pledge to end non dom status, arguing that it would raise £3.2 billion because of the 70 000 individuals affected only 77 would actually leave the country. The OBR believe that 25% will leave, costing the UK more than £12 billion in lost tax over this Parliament. It seems that 10% may already have left the UK.Claire Tominey asks why the government has listened to these two nitwits from CenTax. I think the answer is that the government is composed of nitwits just like them, bourgeois class warriors who think that progressive politics means taxing the rich.
Steven Rose ● 46d