A rise in national insurance then, eh?
Excellent, so everyone\’s on board with the basics of taxation then, yes? If you subsidise something you get more of it, if you tax it you get less of it.
OK.
So, we\’re in a recession. Worried about unemployment in fact. High and rising unemployment.
So, would you take as your biggest tax intitiative a rise in national insurance?
You know, that tax on employing labour, that tax on providing jobs?
Er, that tax which will by its very definition reduce the number of jobs on offer at a time of high unemployment?
If you wouldn\’t, you\’re sensible. If you would you\’re a fuckwit.
But then that\’s the sort of thing that happens when you ask a provincial solicitor to do the sums.
That’s very rude about provincial solicitors. My solicitor wouldn’t be that stupid I’m sure.
Hmm. The tax on employing low-paid people (gbp20k or below) hasn’t changed, so there won’t be any impact on *unemployment* per se – it’ll just mean distortions in incentives higher up the labour market.