Does Labour have a taxing habit?

Labour has a tax problem coming up to the next election and it’s nothing to do with death taxes, it’s to do with fun taxes.

Everyone has something they do for a bit of fun. For some it’s supporting their football team, for others it’s betting. There’s a danger for Labour though in that it can be seen as finding joy in finding things to tax.

Tax is something that needs to be talked about seriously. There are big decisions to be made about how to fund social care and to reduce the deficit. Unfortunately, the party has a worrying habit of going for the little things in life that millions of people enjoy or trying to tax the electorate behind their backs.

People are still fuming over Gordon Brown’s stealth taxes. At the moment, Labour is considering introducing a tax on sweets and treats. At least a decision on this is being delayed because of fears that the party will be seen as too ‘nanny state’.

The most recent additions to Labour’s taxable targets are the Premier League and sports betting. Yes, that’s football and having a flutter. These taxes though are ‘good taxes’. The money will go towards grassroots sports. As Harriet Harman put it the proposals aim to ‘boost investment in community and grassroots sports by getting tough with the Premier League and betting companies.’

It’s difficult to know where to start with this. When Labour’s talking about a cost of living crisis is it really a good idea to put a tax on the best supported football clubs in the country? There is one thing we can guarantee that will happen as a result on this tax – the cost will be passed on to fans in ticket price rises and higher costs for watching their team play on television. Just to be clear ‘fans’ is the key word. People who support their clubs are not simply consumers. They support their club because they love their club. This is a tax on football supporters.

There is also an odd argument being made that the sports betting tax is in some way similar to the horse race betting tax. It is in the sense that it’s a tax but the horse race betting tax was put in place to resolve problems directly related to the industry people were betting on. It’s a stretch to think that everyone who play grassroots sports is going to end up in a team that people bet on. This is a tax on people who like to bet. I can’t help thinking that whoever wrote these proposals might be a bit sniffy about betting.

The taxes have every appearance of an out of touch elite picking on things it doesn’t really like. But even the person who wrote these policies should be in touch with reality enough to realise that there’s an election next year. I don’t know if anyone’s noticed but lots, in fact millions, of people like football and having the odd bet.

On top of this, it’s clear that a significant number of Labour voters are abandoning the party because, as Matthew Goodwin argues, they feel there is a divide between them and the liberal elite that run the party. UKIP are on course to take a lot of votes from the party in traditionally safe Labour seats. Won’t this approach to taxation help drive even more people into the loving arms of Nigel Farage?

How about taxing something else? Maybe a tax on polo? A graduate tax for people who attended private schools? A super tax on politician’s holiday homes? If the money has to come from the Premier League why not ring-fence part of the £1bn in taxes it generates every year?

Work needs to be done to support communities in developing grassroots sport and more investment has to happen. The Premier League should do more to meet the voluntary commitments it made to fund grassroots sports. But this lazy tax plan targets people who just want to enjoy themselves. Labour needs to show it’s on the side of hard pressed ‘hard working families’ facing a cost of living crisis, who might, just might, want to enjoy themselves when they’re not at work.