Remember when the Labour Party made solemn promises not to raise taxes if they took charge?

They seemed so sincere that even WE fell for the head fake.

Well, never mind.

Britain’s Labour government has only been in charge for a few months and they’ve released their first budget.  It’s an anti-growth disaster. Capital gains and inheritance taxes along with national insurance levies are all going up. The minimum wage is set for an increase of up to 16%. In mind-bending language, it claims that it must raise taxes to avoid “austerity.” That’s a contradiction in terms.

Even the government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warns that millions of working people will suffer from the $52 billion in tax hikes through lost wage increases and lower income. Its borrowing binge will drive up inflation and keep interest rates high.

Labour claims that it hasn’t broken its campaign pledge not to raise taxes on “working people” because the burden will fall on employers and the wealthy.

But the OBR contradicts that: “We assume that firms pass on most but not all of their higher tax costs to employees.”  That’s a pretty solid assumption.

The Labour tax hikes push Britain’s national tax burden to 38.2%, the highest since just after World War Two.

It’s a new low point for the British Empire.