This morning the Office for Budget Responsibility released a report on the sustainability of Britain's public finances. This is an issue that the TPA has highlighted in a number of publications, including the book How to Cut Public Spending. Estimates have been produced showing Britain faces a particularly severe challenge in a report by researchers at the Bank for International Settlements.
Matthew Sinclair, Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:
“The Office for Budget Responsibility is right to echo warnings from other organisations like the Bank for International Settlements that Britain’s public finances are simply unsustainable in the long term. Politicians should be facing up to the challenges of an ageing population, and the uniquely difficult position Britain is in with critical services mostly used by the elderly paid for almost entirely out of general taxation and becoming a lot more expensive. Instead we are going to have a poor start thanks to the borrowing binge the public sector is on at the moment. Tax hikes depress long run economic growth and therefore aren’t going to fix this kind of long term imbalance in the public finances. The Government just needs to start living within taxpayers’ means.”