There is a long and dishonourable history of politicians introducing new taxes on the wealthy, only for everybody else to end up paying them, over time.
Inheritance tax was originally aimed at the super rich, but the threshold has been frozen at £325,000 since 2009, dragging middle income Brits into the net while the rich escape through careful planning.
Stamp duty was another tax originally sold as a levy on the wealthy few.
The freeze on income tax thresholds will push more than a million workers into the 40 percent tax band as wages rise, through a process known as fiscal drag.
The list goes on and on.
Taxpayers aren’t stupid. They know higher taxes for the rich will hit them in the end.
In fairness, Starmer understands the risk of being seen as a high tax party, even if some of his colleagues don’t.
Last year, he said that working people have been “clobbered time and time again,” naming income tax, NI and council tax as particularly onerous.
The UK already has one high tax party. They’re called the Conservatives.
Voters don’t need another one. If Starmer could position himself as a tax-cutting PM, he could walk the next election.
There’s a real opportunity here, if the party’s class warriors – and Rachel Reeves – will let him take it.
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