If Labour raises taxes what will you think?

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Typing on my phone so not sure I can do a poll? But, if the government raises income tax or NI at the budget, will you think:

A - let’s get real, they had no other choice
B - those duplicitous / inept bastards

B. And I think if a Government breaks a manifesto promise it should trigger a general election. We vote based on the manifesto promises, they should be legally binding. If the fiscal environment changes during their term, which means they need to change their commitments, it should be put to the vote.

A.

It's the sensible option and best done sooner rather than later.

The SNP tried to centralise social care and then discovered how much it would cost them to do so, so left it with councils on a fraction of the budget. Makes it easier to blame councils that way (though to be fair if the SNP messed up it would be Westminster’s fault).

This will likely be the majority feeling about Labour and getting them out after they do it.

B

I think I’m A + B. Inevitable, but they should own it and also give us something back in the manner of a pledge not to waste it or splurge on more for train drivers etc. (Although train drivers will be paying oodles of tax - but maybe they’ll strike for more money to mitigate this!)

How do you generate growth when people are broke and cutting back on spending? I don't know.

I do know that letting our public services deteriorate is likely to be a false economy. For example, if people are waiting on surgical waiting lists for months or years, some of them won't be able to work during that time. Some conditions will also get worse and become more difficult to treat.

If there's a backlog of cases waiting to be heard in our criminal courts, people will suffer as their lives are put on hold. Some cases will collapse and there will be offenders who will get away with serious crimes as a result.

If public transport services are reduced (as has happened in my area), people without cars will find it harder to get to work, which might restrict their employment opportunities. They might also be less likely to go into town and spend money in the shops, restaurants, leisure centres etc.

B

B. According to mumsnet there are far too many young people struggling to pay their bills as it is. To raise taxes would surely hurt these people the most?

A. They have to raise income tax, it is the only fair thing to do and I'll accept it with good grace. I'm a single mum and money is tight but Covid needs to be paid for, and that means everyone.

However I hope they don't then waste it on incompetent fiddling instead of dealing with the key issues.

We all need rid of Rachel Reeves. She's hopeless.

We all need rid of Rachel Reeves. She's hopeless.
How can you say such a thing! She merely makes "inadvertent mistakes".

In the words of Keir Starmer "you can't grow the economy by increasing taxes".
The challenge Labour faces is:
a) if they increase taxes then the economy further slows down meaning less tax revenues and the need to raise more taxes in the future and so on (as witnessed in the NI increase on businesses)
b) if they try to cut Government spending then they will face a backbench rebellion (as witnessed on WFA and PIP payments)
c) if they try to increase debt further then they will trigger a financial crisis (as witnessed by Liz "the lettuce"
Truss).

Sadly politicians want to stay in power so they will go with tax increases. Which means that in 12 months they will need to raise taxes again and the economy will continue in its managed decline with everyone getting poorer.

You’ve got it @1dayatatime I doubt anyone will be singing the praises of more tax rises when repeated each year.

Well lots of people are in favour of tax rises so long as it's not on them.

The problem is though that those who do suffer the tax rises tend to help employ those won't be seeing tax increases but might be seeing job losses, for example the increase in NI on businesses.

But one thing I will say in favour of Keir Starmer is that you don't grow the economy by increasing taxes. Now if the other parties could also take that on board we might be getting somewhere.

I’m not sure about your last line? Starmer is increasing taxes. If he’s aware it won’t get growth he shouldn’t do it.

And point (b) is the reason the economy is fucked.

We probably do need a tax rise in the short term, but we also need welfare reform. Which the Labour backbenchers will never allow.

I’m not a fan of Starmer or Reeves, but they are in an impossible position. The Tories should have grasped this particular nettle a long time ago.

Keir Starmer is on record in June 2025 saying that you can't tax your way to growth.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/keir-starmer-says-uk-cannot-tax-way-to-growth/ar-AA1FV3pI?apiversion=v2&noservercache=1&domshim=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1

Thanks. He’s hopeless then. He knows the problem with doing it. It was his call.

A. Plus I'd be thinking "Oh, we really are in the shit then!"

A
im a higher rate tax payer so will pay more.
imo they should also review triple lock, and go for the average of the three not the highest.

I saw this comment recently at the bottom of an article in the Financial Times. If true the numbers are really thought provoking…

———

There is no money, and we are borrowing over £150bn a year and spending £110bn a year on debt repayments, because 53.3% of all UK households [latest fig. released 23 Sept 2025] are taking more in benefits/services than they contribute in all taxes (in 1977 it was 37%).

The percentage of retired UK households receiving more in benefits and services than contributing in all taxes is 90.1% (93.5% in 1977).

45.8% of non-retired UK households are net benefiters (29.5% in 1977).

We have 9.4m of working age not in employment and ‘economically inactive’.

We have 9.9 million working age who receive some form of DWP benefit.

Just one secondary school place (£7.5k) takes the income tax of two £30k earners to cover the cost.

We have a crooked system where someone on £150k pays FIFTEEN TIMES more income tax than someone earning £30k. And is generally despised for it.

The top 10% of income earners contribute 60.3% of all the income tax paid in the UK. Which is a contribution of 16.2% of the entire tax receipts received by HMG. (£184.525bn / £1,132bn)

^https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8513/^

^https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/theeffectsoftaxesandbenefitsonhouseholdincome/2024^

^https://www.ons.gov.uk/generator?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/theeffectsoftaxesandbenefitsonhouseholdincome/financialyearending2021/8a4a4e33&format=xls^

^https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/theeffectsoftaxesandbenefitsonhouseholdincome/previousReleases?page^

^https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-benefits-statistics-february-2025/dwp-benefits-statistics-february-2025#sect-6^

^https://www.gov.uk/government/news/work-and-pensions-secretary-slams-labour-market-stats-as-truly-dire-and-affirms-mission-to-get-britain-working-again^

^https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002kfn8^

I didn’t vote for them but would vote both a and b
a because it’s true but they shouldn’t have lied about it and b because it feels like whatever is raised will be pissed away on rubbish as almost everything they’ve touched so far seems to have turned to shit

I don't get the hatred for Labour. I don't like all of their decisions, but are there any decent options left to them? I would rather pay more in income tax than see the NHS, justice system, Police Service etc. deteriorate further. Sadly, whatever Labour does, you can guarantee that things will get worse before they get better. I can see it taking a decade to turn this country around, but that isn't Keir Starmer's fault.

B.

I don’t think this is Labour’s fault, 14 years of Tory incompetence + a global pandemic have led us here.

My frustration (as a Labour voter in the past) is that Labour seem to have neither the vision nor the skills to fix things. Neither do the Tories, Lib Dems, Reform or Greens, who are either pretending it was nothing to do with them or engaging in magical thinking about wealth taxes and scrapping stamp duty (a policy I support, but not without something to replace it.)

Our whole political class is currently a shambles, and I genuinely don’t know how we will get ourselves out of this funk if these are the best we can do.