Martin Sandbu’s opening salvo: is there a long-term case for higher taxes?
By Nicholas Timmins, Public Policy Editor
This is – and has become more so with the additional contributions – a mighty wide topic. On the size of the state, this is not just a small ‘p’ political issue but one decided more by national culture rather any purely economic argument.
Scandinavian economies have operated, pretty successfully, with a much higher tax take to pay for a much more generous welfare state than say the US or UK. The UK’s problem has always been that British voters appear to want mainland European levels of social provision (health, education and benefit systems) while wanting to pay US levels of tax.
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