RichardJMurphy

RichardJMurphy, 9 months ago to random

The UK company birth explosion https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/08/23/the-uk-company-birth-explosion/. There are now more companies created a year in the UK than there are live births. That makes no sense at all unless tax abuse and fraud are taken into account.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Why monopolies are harmful https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/30/why-monopolies-are-harmful/. Monopolies exist when one or a very few companies or organizations control a market and can exploit consumers as a result. The modern economy is riddled with monopolies, many of which are very powerful. Until governments are willing to stand up to them we are all at risk of being ripped off.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Just wait: politicians will be shaking the magic money tree very soon https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/15/just-wait-politicians-will-be-shaking-the-magic-money-tree-very-soon/. The scale of government spending, and what it is spent on, is always a matter of political choice. The problem is that military action is always deemed to be high priority and meeting need is not.

RichardJMurphy, 6 months ago to random

Sunak looks like a prime minister with a decidedly short sell-by date https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/12/07/sunak-looks-like-a-prime-minister-with-a-decidedly-short-sell-by-date/. We are in a state of government paralysis. But given the state of the government that we have, that might be no bad thing.

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

It’s not just Thames Water: the whole of the English water industry is environmentally insolvent https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/29/its-not-just-thames-the-whole-of-the-english-water-industry-is-environmentally-insolvent/ There is much fuss about Thames Water right now. but none of the UK's water companies have a hope of meeting their obligations to supply clean water, rivers and beaches and simultaneously meet net-zero obligations. They are environmentally insolvent. Any government has to face up to this reality or we are all in very deep trouble.

RichardJMurphy, 5 months ago to random

Tackling the nonsense talked about the national debt, and its cost https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/12/31/tackling-the-nonsense-talked-about-the-national-debt-and-its-cost/. Politicians are ending the year talking total nonsense about the national debt and its implications. Let me shatter a few myths about both its size and cost, both of which are being dramatically overstated right now.

RichardJMurphy, 29 days ago to random

Labour and the Tories are both making the same false claim, which is that we can no longer afford government https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/13/labour-and-the-tories-are-both-making-the-same-false-claim-which-is-that-we-can-no-longer-afford-government/ At the forthcoming election, both parties will claim that although we are richer than we have ever been we can no longer afford to have government of the style that we once did. That's not true. And it's only because both parties now exist to serve the interests of those with wealth that this claim is made. How long will we put up with this?

RichardJMurphy, 17 days ago to random

This is the last election where we can save the planet https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/25/this-is-the-last-election-where-we-can-save-the-planet/ We all know that climate change is now the biggest problem that we as a human race face. And yet you'd never think it from what most political parties are saying at this election. Don't they care about the future, our children and grandchildren and the calamity facing us all? Their indifference is quite staggering.

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

Abolishing the UK’s student tax would cost £4 billion a year whilst increasing the wellbeing of millions https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/23/the-taxing-wealth-report-abolishing-the-uks-student-tax-would-cost-4-billion-a-year/. The so-called student loan charge is a deeply discriminatory and penal tax on some graduates. The charge does not even cover the interest accruing on student loans right now. And the debt has already been written off for national debt calculation purposes. So, why are we keeping this deeply unfair tax that prevents tax justice for so many? It has to go.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

How far can Labour descend? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/08/how-far-can-labour-descend/ Accepting Natalie Elphicke as a Labour MP appears to be a new low for the Party.

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

Labour lets the Rwanda Bill progress in the Lords https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/30/labour-lets-the-rwanda-bill-progress-in-the-lords/ Labour would rather have our constitution gutted and the rule of law undermined than vote for a LibDem motion on the Rwanda Bill in the House of Lords. If anyone thinks that implies they will form a big-thinking, broad-minded, ethically led, human rights focussed government I suggest they think again.

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

All fascists are terrified of the arts https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/14/all-fascists-are-terrified-of-the-arts/
It is now very clear that the fascists running the UK want to close down the right of those in the arts to speak freely. The spread of authoritarian control in the UK is now becoming truly frightening.

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

We desperately need a Green New Deal and our power elites would rather ignore that fact https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/23/we-desperately-need-a-green-new-deal-and-our-power-elites-would-rather-ignore-that-fact/. Millions live in fuel poverty in the UK. Tens of thousands want long-term careers. A Green New Deal could tackle both issues. But our politicians crave wealth for themselves and so we do not get what we need. That's the reality of politics in the 2020s.

RichardJMurphy, 8 months ago to random

There is no need to debate the triple lock for pensions: all the money needed to pay old age pensions can be found by making simple changes to the tax charges on the wealthy https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/09/14/there-is-no-need-to-debate-the-triple-lock-for-pensions-all-the-money-needed-to-pay-old-age-pensions-can-be-found-by-making-simple-changes-to-the-tax-charges-on-the-wealthy/. Every pensioner can have the money that they need to live on: we just need ministers who are willing to tax the wealthy just a tiny bit more, which they'll hardly notice.

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

Evidence suggests that privatising healthcare services does not produce better health outcomes. So why is Labour so keen on doing this? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/26/evidence-suggests-that-privatising-healthcare-services-does-not-produce-better-health-outcomes-so-why-is-labour-so-keen-on-doing-this/. Privatising healthcare does not seem to benefit patients, although it definitely benefits healthcare companies. So why is Labour so keen on it?

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

If the Office for Budget Responsibility does not disclose that its forecasts are total nonsense when it knows that they are what is the point of it? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/24/if-the-office-for-budget-responsibility-does-not-disclose-that-its-forecasts-are-total-nonsense-when-it-knows-that-they-are-what-is-the-point-of-it/ The OBR knew that the data supplied to it by the government to prepare forecasts last November was total nonsense - but did not say so at the time. Their credibility has been shattered by that admission. And so too has their independence been totally compromised. What a shambles.

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

£10 million of private donations to a political party are corrupting https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/13/10-million-of-private-donations-to-a-political-party-are-corrupting/. The racism of a Tory donor, revealed yesterday, was shocking. But, staggeringly, the issue is even bigger than that.

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

How to manage the supply of public goods https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/15/how-to-manage-the-supply-of-public-goods/. Public goods are supplied universally without the intention to profit from doing so. In the neoliberal era we have, however, imposed a for-profit management model on their supply. No wonder they are failing so badly.

RichardJMurphy, 19 days ago to random

A dull sense of dread hangs over this election https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/23/a-dull-sense-of-dread-hangs-over-this-election/ This election will see us rid of the Tories, probably forever in their One Nation pretence. But it will not deliver change. Things will not get better for most people. How can anyone get excited about that?

RichardJMurphy, 5 months ago to random

Until we have political and corporate leadership that serves the community and not powerful individuals, nothing will prevent another Post Office scandal https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/09/until-we-have-political-and-corporate-leadership-that-serves-the-community-and-not-powerful-individuals-nothing-will-prevent-another-post-office-scandal/.

The real story of the Post Office is all about the abuse of power. Those in charge put their interests above those of all others - because they believed that they were the most important people in the organisation. It was not possible in that case that they might have made a mistake, in their opinion.

RichardJMurphy, 5 months ago to random

It feels like some people are driving the world towards insanity, and no one is sure how to stop them https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/12/12/it-feels-like-some-people-are-driving-the-world-towards-insanity-and-no-one-is-sure-how-to-stop-them/. Sunak’s Rwanda Bill is insane. So is OPEC’s defence of fossil fuel use at COP28. Despite that the attempts to promote both are serious, deeply dangerous and profoundly worrying. How do we stop this?

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

The Bank of England used the inflation crisis to boost the wealth of the wealthy, but did nothing at all to control inflation https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/10/the-bank-of-england-used-the-inflation-crisis-to-boost-the-wealth-of-the-wealthy-but-did-nothing-at-all-to-control-inflation/ Look at the data in the latest in the last Bank of England forecasts and compare it with IMF-created data on the causes of inflation, and the conclusion is obvious. We never needed interest rate rises. But, now we have them, the Bank will not let them go, because they're far too popular with the rich and bankers.

RichardJMurphy, 23 days ago to random

Starmer, the cuckoo https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/19/starmer-the-cuckoo/ Like a cuckoo, Starmer has foisted himself into alien territory, ousted its natural occupants, demanded blind loyalty from those who are left, and will then deliver something totally opposite to their best interests. Of course, we have to create an alternative to that. What other choice do we have?

RichardJMurphy, 28 days ago to random

HMRC needs to be in every town and city in the country https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/14/hmrc-needs-to-be-in-every-town-and-city-in-the-country/ Over the last ten years or so, our tax authority has closed the vast majority of tax offices in
the UK. No wonder we are not collecting large parts of the tax the country is owed. It’s time
these offices were reopened.

RichardJMurphy, 16 days ago to random

Rachel Reeves’ crass claims on growth https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/25/rachel-reeves-crass-claims-on-growth/ Rachel Reeves claimed today that:

"Economic growth only comes from businesses: big, medium and small. That's the model to grow the economy I believe in – and it's the only one that works."

Economic stupidity is rarely seen on this scale.

Have none of the lessons from the failures of the last 40-plus years not been noticed by her?