John McDonnell's Alternative Autumn Budget

Robert and Steph are joined by former Shadow Chancellor of The Exchequer, John McDonnell to discuss what he thinks Rachel Reeves should and shouldn't do in the upcoming budget, how child poverty should be Labour's number one priority and how he feels about this Labour government in general.

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[mrsulzer]

What level of salary do they judge the broadest shoulders to have….NO ONE ever says.

[maxthemagition]

A pensioner pays 20% of their income to the Taxman.
Why not everyone else except the poorer sectors of our society.
It seems Tax avoidance is everywhere in the UK today except the pensioners and those on PAYE.

[tomnorton]

Two minutes in, and the one thing I'm struck by is: John is a member of the party currently in government. Surely the way he is framing this discourse is undercutting his own goverment a couple of weeks before they deliver their first budget.

[firmbutton]

Why talk to this failed politician on investment?

[kayedal-haddad]

Carbon Tax, Wealth Tax and a Land Value Tax is what I would like you see in the forthcoming Budget!

[FreaksSpeaks]

Does people with broad shoulder means, people who are MPs for decades with gold plated pension give up everything more than 500k in their pension? Somehow do.not.think so. Hipocrite?

[maxthemagition]

Inheritance tax…..Either ditch it or fix it because there are loopholes that has existed for centuries that has enabled the upper class to prevent them paying it.
This has caused the great divide in wealth in the UK.

[clivebroadhead]

Hi John, As you may be aware, the USA has committed to $66 billion Bipartisan Bill for the upgrade of the rail infrastructure, including a new line between Chicago and Seattle.

The UK needs to do the same and invest in the transport infrastructure. In addition, the UK needs to invest in the NHS to match the levels in Germany and France.

[maxthemagition]

Might as well not have inheritance tax because that is the one tax that is so easily avoided through trusts and tax havens and let’s face it this avoidance has been going on for centuries and has caused the great divide in wealth in the UK.
Let’s face inheritance tax avoidance has been going on for centuries via Trusts which has enabled the great divide here in the UK, so either close the tax loopholes or ditch it.
The other great tax avoidance is living abroad as a British citizen and hiding one’s wealth. This would not be allowed in the USA.

[philipdurling]

Beer, Petrol, Cigarettes. Labours favorites.

[gamereatHD]

Can you please set these to be podcasts? Means they show up in Youtube Music and much easier to listen to

[rpb]

Rejected about as bad as you can be rejected.

[mickduffy]

To go forward it needs the removal of Starmer, Reeves, the idiotic Lammy and the unctuous Streeting or the Labour Party is finished

[susanmiller]

Why don’t they just focus on collecting the taxes that should be being generated by big business, dismantle avoidance schemes, claw back from corrupt government contractors, then we wouldn’t need to place a further, unsustainable burden on those who are already so close to the edge.

[garyb]

16, 500 high net worth people have left the UK in the last 4 years and its just the start

[martineyles]

The only behaviour change problem related to raising the highest rates of income tax is that people shift their earnings to dividends and capital gains. If you harmonise the rates of these taxes to income tax plus national insurance you take away most of that behaviour change.

[jankoszuta]

An impressive politician, thoughtful and principled yet realistic

[daviddanson]

We really do need to understand the purpose of taxation and it's not just to pay for government spending; this is just one and probably the least important. 1. it is to balance the difference between the most wealthy and the least wealthy. 2. It is to change the behaviour of the population, tax bad behaviour and not tax good behaviour. (all those good people switching to ev transportation now being considered for per mile taxation, stupid.) 3. Controlling inflation. Had the last government done this effectively inflation would not have gone up to 10%. They didn't, they left it to the bank of england, and who controls this? the government. 4. Taxation ensures the pound has value. The fact that the government will only accept pounds as payment gives it value. There 2 other reasons but Richard J Murphy states it much better than I do. It's pity the interviewers and the interviewees, and in particular Rachel Reeves doesn't understand the basics.

[LeightonWilliams-ix]

The problem with land tax is that it would by the London elite specified as based on area, if you want a real proprty #/land tax it needs to based on value . That unfortunately would hit SE dwellers, to put hat in perspective a £20M mansion is SW1 gets a tax of £1k , in a rural area of wales like Pembrokshireyou pay 3k+ for a 3 bed property

[jaynemcleankremer]

Great man, extraordinary knowledge on economics with intelligent and informed economic and social ideas.