Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Is it time for a tax hike?

The 48 per cent have spoken – and they want higher taxes, according to the British Social Attitudes survey. In the wake of a general election in which Labour won support based on a manifesto of free spending, is it time for a rethink on tax? And should we wave goodbye to the era of austerity? Here’s what today’s newspapers make of the case for a tax hike:

We are ‘at a fiscal crossroads’, says the Daily Telegraph. During their dismal election campaign, the Tories ‘failed to make the case for living within our means’ and the ‘public appetite for prudence’ appears to be waning. Yet for all the cheer from the left of the “huge support for higher taxes and spending” – the survey on which these reports were based shows that less than half of people are in favour of more spending and tax. Undoubtedly though, ‘the political winds are blowing in favour of even more spending’, claims the Telegraph, with Sir Oliver Letwin among the Tories saying it could be time to increase taxes. ‘There is an alternative’, says the Telegraph, which calls on the government to tax less and reap the rewards of higher economic growth instead. ‘This is supposed to be the Tory approach’, the paper says, but it seems that many Conservatives have ‘given up making the arguments’. The likes of Sir Oliver might think they’re taking the fight to Labour. They’re not – and those Conservatives talking about hiking taxes ‘are simply playing Labour’s game’. In this situation, ‘there is only one winner. Jeremy Corbyn’.

Some members of the cabinet think Labour’s ‘relative success’ ‘means they have to do something about public pay’, says the Times.

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