UK: Labour Planting the Seeds for Major Tax Rises
In an interview with the Financial Times ahead of the July 4th election, new Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves “admitted [as the paper put it] that—unlike previous incoming chancellors—she would be unable to arrive at the Treasury and claim she had looked inside the books and realised things were even worse than they looked from the outside, giving a flimsy excuse for immediate tax rises or spending cuts.”
Just days after the election, Reeves did exactly that.
Watching new Chancellor deliver her first speech at the Treasury. Already talking about how the economic inheritance is even worse than expected… laying the ground for tax rises already? pic.twitter.com/CNQJjqlwqd
— Olivia Utley (@OliviaUtley) July 8, 2024
In fact, since the election, hardly a day has passed where Labour figures have not highlighted that all things—from the economy, to prisons, to defence—are much worse than they realised.
So the seeds have been planted. Now comes tax rises and/or spending cuts.
Reeves will say on Monday, July 29th, that there is a “black hole” of about £20 billion (€23.7bn) in the public finances. Former Bank of England economist Michael Saunders told The Guardianthat this announcement could be used to “justify significant extra tax hikes, perhaps an extra £10bn-£25bn (€11.8bn-€29.6bn).”
Politico reckons that the Labour government could increase capital gains tax—a tax on profit once you sell an asset that has increased in value—or alter the inheritance tax system to raise additional cash. Measures will be confirmed in the chancellor’s autumn budget, which will likely take place in October, after the party conference season is out of the way.
Paul Johnson, who is director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, said that Reeves should not act surprised that the public finances are in a bad way.
I don’t think it’s really very credible at all. In terms of the scale of the problems facing public services, lots of individuals and organisations have pointed out that public services are performing considerably worse than they were pre-COVID. They are performing worse than they were back in 2010.
Labour prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said on countless occasions before the general election that his team “rejects the argument” that tax rises are required to rebuild public services. He also promised not to raise taxes on “working people.” But this was a clever act of obfuscation since it turned out that Starmer believes “working people” are only those with no savings, which is beyond ridiculous.
VIDEO: JD Vance Makes Important Point About The Misery of Leftist Cat Ladies
Alex Jones played a clip on Thursday of now-Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance telling Tucker Carlson about how the Democrat leadership are a bunch of childless cat-ladies.
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Former Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki Set to Chair European Conservatives and Reformists
Sources indicate that Mateusz Morawiecki, former conservative prime minister of Poland, is likely to be appointed as the chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) in the European Parliament.
According to press reports, Morawiecki is tipped to soon replace Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as leader of the center-right group. However, this position might not grant him significant power within the European Parliament faction due to a recent change in the party’s statutes, which now adhere to Belgian law.
Under the new statutes, the primary power within the party lies with the secretary general. “Friends from sunny Italy suggest that this position will always be held by an Italian,” dorzeczy.pl news outlet reports.
Meanwhile, the Polish edition of Newsweek reported that other Polish politicians from the Law and Justice (PiS) party are also destined to receive prominent roles within the faction. Joachim Brudziński is expected to be a co-chair, while Kosma Złotowski could become the co-treasurer. The publication also cited an anonymous PiS politician who noted that “Morawiecki’s position has been negotiated, but we shall see if the Italians keep their word or if further negotiations will ensue.”
Furthermore, Newsweek highlighted that Morawiecki’s career is mirroring that of Tusk, who previously led another major European faction, the European People’s Party. Tusk held this role from 2019 to 2022, succeeding Joseph Daul of France, and was later replaced by Manfred Weber of Germany.
VIDEO: Andrew Schulz Destroys the Deep State Gaslighting Factory
On the Thursday show Alex Jones played a hilarious social media video of Andrew Schulz roasting the Deep State Democrats firing off truth bomb after truth bomb in the information war.
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Friday Live: ‘Massive Arson Attacks’ Sabotage French Railways During Olympics
“The American Journal” is live every weekday from 8-11 am CST.
Who else has a really bad feeling about all of this?
If you’re in Paris right now please stay extremely vigilant. #Olympics pic.twitter.com/XE0rpv0yLZ— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) July 26, 2024
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Scholz Praises Press Freedom While Saying Some Opinions are ‘Forbidden’
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday spoke for the first time about the interior ministry’s decision to ban the right-wing magazine Compact. At a press conference, Scholz defended the ban, saying “freedom of the press includes being able to say a lot of nonsense, but there are limits that you can’t overlook.”
Seemingly contradicting himself many times on the matter, he said he is a “champion of press freedom,” which is of “the utmost importance for democracy in Germany,” but then went on to say there are “of course opinions that are forbidden in Germany,” including, for example, the glorification of national socialism or anti-semitism.
Der @Bundeskanzler hat offenbar ein komisches Verständnis von Pressefreiheit. #CompactVerbot pic.twitter.com/GyEx20eiT0
— Vadim Derksen (@realDerksen) July 24, 2024
Compact magazine, an anti-establishment, government-critical publication, was banned on Tuesday, July 16th, for “inciting hatred” and “aggressively propagating the toppling of the political order.” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called it “a central mouthpiece of the right-wing extremist scene.”
However, the move seems more like the action of a government that wants to silence voices it disagrees with. Experts on constitutional law say the ban amounts to nothing less than an attack on the freedom of the press. Editor-in-chief Jürgen Elsässer emphasised that no court cases brought against Compact could substantiate the accusations of racism, antisemitism, or incitement to violence—claims he rejects.
Olaf Scholz says authorities prepared the ban very carefully, examined all possible legal questions, and the decision was made “for good reason.” When asked whether editorial offices in Germany could now be closed, the chancellor said there are “crimes that must not be committed.”
However, Compact magazine is not accused of having committed crimes. It wasn’t banned under the Criminal Code, which regulates the press, but under association, law which is not protected by the freedom of the press.
The magazine filed a lawsuit against the ban on Wednesday.The German Compact magazine should not be confused with the U.S. publication of the same name.