Wednesday, April 16, 2014

The Politics Of Inequality in The UK

The conservative government is planning to cut the inheritance tax prior to the coming elections.  This is good policy for the conservative government but the real question is how the Labour Party will respond during the election cycle.  Many in the Labour Party believe that it is impossible to run for election on an anti-business platform.  Business interests certainly would view opposition to cuts in the inheritance tax as anti-business.  However, there is considerable public awareness of growing inequality and a declining standard of living.  What should Labour do? 

If the Labour Party does not have a workable plan for reducing income inequality it might be foolish to place a bet on using it as an election strategy.  In the US the public is aware of growing inequality but it does not like taxes or income redistribution.  On the other hand, the public is supportive of equal opportunity.  The Obama Administration has attacked the problem of growing income inequality by proposing policies intended to equalize opportunity.  Perhaps that would be the better way for the Labour Party to exploit the problem of income inequality.

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