Commenting on the Spring budget, Director of Research of the Adam Smith Institute, Maxwell Marlow, said:

“It’s encouraging that the Government understands the overwhelming need to cut taxes from the current record high, and the benefits that doing so brings to individuals, families and businesses. The Adam Smith Institute welcomes the cut to National Insurance, as well as the Chancellor’s commitment to even greater tax cuts in the future. Ideally, these would be both soon and include the abolition of entire taxes, like the immoral death tax, and even scrapping National Insurance itself. This would end the farce of double taxation on income by merging income tax and National Insurance for good.

“It’s also good to hear the Treasury has been listening to the Adam Smith Institute’s calls to further broaden full expensing to leased equipment, such as vans, diggers, and the kit we use to build Britain. 

“The move towards working out child benefits by households, rather than by individuals, will end an unfair penalty on parents, and make it easier for Brits to have the number of children they want. In the meantime, raising the childcare threshold support to £80,000 is a good stop-gap. 

“The planned public sector productivity drive for the NHS, especially by embracing AI, is going to be transformational, but it should be extended across the entire public sector. 

“To really unlock the United Kingdom’s potential, the Government must now turn to serious supply side reforms, most importantly by allowing new houses to be built for current and future generations, giving the families of the future a place to call their own.”

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

For further comment, or to arrange an interview, please contact emily@adamsmith.org | +44 7584778207

The Adam Smith Institute is a free market think tank based in London. It advocates classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.