Independent financial experts tear into Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Magic Money Tree’ sums which DON’T add up – and it’ll cost you £750
IFS warn Labour’s tax plans would mean tax rises for all after he promised to splurge billions if they win tomorrow’s election
LABOUR’S plans to splurge billions of cash if they win tomorrow’s election have been savaged by a respected economic think tank - who warn it could cost the average household £750 a year.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) delivered their verdict on Jeremy Corbyn’s fiscal policies - dubbed a "Magic Money Tree" by the Tories - and declared that their “numbers simply don't add up”.
Their damning verdict on the veteran leftie’s warns if he gets into Downing Street it would mean tax rises for everyone, not just the rich.
The party plans to commit to a host of cripplingly expensive policies such as scrapping university tuition fees, renationalising a number of industries and increasing benefits.
And that is without factoring in the pledge to invest hundreds of billions of pounds in infrastructure, which saw their own manifesto say the extra burden of paying for it would lead put taxes up by around 10 per cent to the highest level since 1949.
IFS analysis of Labour's tax and benefit plans shows that the average household would be £750 a year worse off.
That would cost more than £60 a month - although the burden would fall higher on wealthier individuals.
Paul Johnson, the head of the IFS, rejected Labour's claim it could finance these huge increases in public spending with raising £50billion in extra taxes on the highest five per cent of earners.
He told the BBC: “They can’t raise the £50bn they say they would raise just from the increases that they say, so you can’t raise that amount of money just by taxing companies and a little bit on the rich.
“It absolutely doesn’t add up.”
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In another interview he said: “Their numbers simply don't add up. They cannot raise the £50billion a year that they say they would raise in the way they would raise it from.
“If they tried it would be enormously economically damaging.
“Because none of these other countries that have these much higher levels of tax and spending do all of that additional taxation by hitting companies, and particularly in the context of Brexit when we are worried about inward investment.
“To be doing that would be dangerous. I think they are highly likely to have to increase other taxes, whether that be income tax or NI on ordinary workers - or have really unsustainable levels of public borrowing.”
Mr Johnson also criticised the Tories for being guarded about their plans, saying Theresa May’s offer to the nation appeared to be: 'We are the stable competent party, we're going to keep spending and taxes down as low as we can.
“It's just that we're not exactly sure how low that is.”