ENTHUSIASM for political outsiders is not confined to Donald Trump, Greece's Syriza or France's Marine Le Pen. In Britain, a formerly obscure leftwinger named Jeremy Corbyn seems on course to be Labour leader and thus potentially the next prime minister. There is plenty to be said about his foreign policy views, such as withdrawal from NATO; read this profile in Labour's in-house magazine, the New Statesman, for the details.
But the enthusiasm for Mr Corbyn seems driven by his economic policies, notably his opposition to austerity. His maths look shaky as has been pointed out by Jolyon Maugham; he thinks the 50% tax rate would raise £5 billion when £3.5 billion is the maximum even if one assumes there are no effects on behaviour from the higher tax rate. And he assumes that £120 billion can be collected in higher taxes by eliminating evasion and avoidance when £34 billion is the theoretical maximum if one assumes, heroically, the government could collect all potential revenues (this "tax gap" has fallen, not risen, in recent years).
Perhaps the most interesting policy is that of...Continue reading
from Economics http://ift.tt/1M9ou3E
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment