Sam on BBC Radio Merseyside

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30 March 2011

Sam Bowman discusses the rise in university fees in Liverpool on BBC Radio Merseyside.

You can listen to it here (at approx. 23 mins). 

Cutting state funding is good for the arts

30 March 2011

 Ahead of announcements today on Arts Council cuts, Sam Bowman, Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, said:

“The government should phase out arts funding altogether. Subsidies distort the market and fund art that nobody wants. Artists that have to appeal to a government body rather than the public for their income will inevitably compromise the quality of the art they produce.

“Great artists like Shakespeare, Dickens and The Beatles have always relied on consumer demand and private patronage to fund their work, and private institutions like the Royal Academy of Arts and Glyndebourne Festival Opera provide fine art without any government funding. If people want something, they should be prepared to pay for it.”

To arrange an interview with Sam Bowman, please contact Sally Thompson, Communications Director, on 07584 778 207, sally@adamsmith.org

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Tom on Al Jazeera on protests about the cuts

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 28 March 2011

 Tom Clougherty appears on Al Jazeera's 'Inside Story' to discuss the weekend's protests against the coalition's planned spending cuts and why the government's planned cuts are necessary. 

Published on Al Jazeera here. 

Osborne plans to spend, grow and earn his way out of debt

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27 March 2011

Dr Eamonn Butler reviews the 2011 budget in the Sunday Post.

On the whole, a qualified positive

Published in Spectator Coffee House here. 

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 25 March 2011

Tom Clougherty gives his response to the 2011 budget on the Spectator Coffee House.

Eamonn on BBC Newsnight discussing Osborne's performance as Chancellor

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25 March 2011

Dr Eamonn Butler gives his reaction to the budget and analyses Osborne's performance as Chancellor on BBC Newsnight.

You can watch him here (at around 31mins)

Tax rise does not send a "Come and invest in Britain" signal to the world'

Published in full in The Guardian here. 

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25 March 2011

Dr Eamonn Butler gives his response to the budget announcement in the Guardian, arguing that we need greater tax cuts to encourage growth.

Budget for growth doesn't go far enough

23 March 2011

In response to today's budget announcement, the Adam Smith Institute has released the following analysis of Osborne's budget:

• Osborne's budget won't kickstart economic growth. Business and income taxes are too high for timid modifications to deliver the growth we need
• More than two thirds of the price of a litre of petrol is tax. Cutting a penny from fuel duty won't impact on businesses or ordinary people
• While Britain's other taxes are so high, cutting corporation tax alone will do little to attract foreign businesses

Tom Clougherty, Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute, and Sam Bowman, Head of Research, have released the following comments in response to today's key announcements:

The government will consider merging income tax and national insurance.

“The only remaining justification for keeping income tax and national insurance separate is to prevent people realizing just how much tax they actually pay. Merging the two taxes on income is a welcome and long overdue move towards transparency and simplicity in the UK tax system. The Adam Smith Institute first proposed this reform in 1984. Sometimes, good things come to those who wait.”

"But leaving employer NI contributions unchanged means that double taxation of income will continue even after this reform." - TC

The government will continue with reforms to make the UK’s corporate tax regime ‘the most competitive’ in the G20.

“Competitive business taxes are essential to growth, but corporation tax is only one part of the picture. The coalition’s capital gains tax hike makes Britain a world loser, and that can only hold back the capital investment that is vital for economic growth." -TC

The government will review the 50p tax rate

"The Chancellor should have set out a clear timetable for the abolition of the 50p tax rate. As highlighted in our 2011 report on the 50p tax rate, high earners are leaving Britain permanently to avoid the tax, and a vague assurance that it will be removed won't change that." - SB

Inheritance tax relief for charitable giving

"It's better to give to charity than to the taxman. But it should be your choice who you leave your estate to, not the Chancellor's" -SB

The government will cut fuel duty and introduce fair fuel stabilizer.

“This is great news for motorists, who have been viciously overtaxed by successive governments. But the government should have applied a similar rationale to the rest of its environmental programme, which is set to significantly raise energy costs in coming years. It doesn’t make sense to talk about boosting manufacturing, while also pursuing policies that will raise the cost of energy by a third.” -TC

The government will significantly raise the tax on cigarettes.

“Delaying the travel duty was a recognition that some taxes bite harder than others. Cigarette taxes are no different. "Sin taxes" may be effective revenue tools but only because, for many, they are a tax on fun. They’re regressive and hit the poorest the hardest. In tough times like this, the Chancellor should spare us the grim paternalism of the sin tax and allow people some small pleasures in life.

“Britain’s high tobacco taxes encourage illicit trade, with smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes now making up a significant part of the market. Today’s budget will only compound that problem.” -SB

The government will attempt to boost the construction industry through the relaxation of planning laws and the use of ‘land auctions’.

“The British planning system is absurdly strict and anachronistic. Land auctions might be a sensible way of minimizing the economic damage, but they are no substitute for proper, thoroughgoing liberalization. Rather than tinkering around the edges, we should be ripping up the Town & Country Planning Act and starting again.”

"Enterprise zones are a good idea but they raise the question: why isn't the Chancellor making the whole country an enterprise zone?" -TC

One big disappointment…

“The budget will do little to encourage job creation. Yes, the Chancellor announced a handful of welcome changes to employment rules, but these pale into insignificance when compared with the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions now coming into effect. Changes to thresholds do little to help the overall picture. Raising the cost of employment at a time like this is madness – the Chancellor should have cancelled the rise in employer contributions.” -TC

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The NHS needs reform, but are Lansley’s the way to do it?

Read in full on Spectator Coffee House here.

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18 March 2011

Tom Clougherty explores Lansley's proposed reforms of the NHS in the Spectator and argues that we need a much more fundamental overhaul of the NHS rather than half-baked reforms.

Maintaining 50p tax rate will cost economy £35billion a year says Adam Smith Institute

You can read it in full in the Daily Telegraph here. 

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10 March 2011

The Daily Telegraph writes that maintaining the 50p tax rate will cost the economy £35bn a year following the release of our report 'The Revenue and growth effects of Britain's high personal taxes'.