No, Liz Truss, tax cuts that benefit the most well-off aren’t ‘fair’

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In my experience, large tax cuts enrich the well-off, who have little interest in improving the quality of life for those less fortunate than themselves (AFP via Getty Images)

“To look at everything through the lens of redistribution is… wrong,” says Liz Truss. Gifting the wealthy a £1,800 tax benefit that allows the poor £7.00 is “fair”. Such an approach will boost investment and grow the economy, presumably, through some Thatcherite trickle down process, so the mantra goes.

In my experience, large tax cuts enrich the well-off, who have little interest in improving the quality of life for those less fortunate than themselves. Instead of appropriately paid service jobs provided by the government out of taxation, the nation’s needs are met by poverty-stricken serfs “enslaved” by the “gig economy”.

A significant portion of the vast surpluses generated by such taxation policies swells the coffers of off-shore trusts and increases housing costs of first-time buyers as money is directed towards property. Little is invested in national infrastructure, social policy and well-paid jobs in industry – the so-called “levelling up” agenda. The historical consequences of such reckless taxation policies are invariably industrial unrest, civil strife and increased poverty. Sound familiar?