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 now been frozen at £325,000 since 2009, dragging middle income Brits into the net while the rich escape through careful tax 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 middle earners into the 40 percent tax band over time, through a process known as fiscal drag.
The list goes on and one.
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. Voters don’t need another one. If Starmer could portray himself as a tax-cutting PM, he could walk the next election.
Starmer has an opportunity here, if the class warriors in his party will let him take it.
