Tom Clougherty

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." – Ronald Reagan

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

This is a brilliant idea:

Use value uplift from new homes around stations to connect suburban train lines with new crossrails.

Dramatically increase network capacity without general taxpayer subsidy.

Why wouldn't government leap at this opportunity?

https://t.co/kKn8CLv7vl

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

More here: https://t.co/05aJLAYDpN (9/9)

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

Here I am in The Times, full of seasonal good cheer. Are we doomed to never-ending tax increases? (1/9)

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

That would boost growth and create much healthier political dynamics around the tax burden. Once everyone sees that higher spending means their tax rate rises (and vice versa) we can have a proper debate about what we expect the state to provide. (8/9)

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

This report looks superb. The government will be desperate for a good news story on Wednesday... Why not announce that this will be implemented in full at the Budget?

[John Fingleton @JohnFingleton1]

Britain needs nuclear power. Our nuclear projects are the most expensive in the world and among the slowest. Regulators and industry are paralysed by risk aversion. This can change. For Britain to prosper, it must.

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister appointed me to lead a Taskforce to set out a path to getting affordable, fast nuclear power Britain.

Our final report today sets out 47 recommendations, among them:

- Creating a one-stop shop for nuclear approvals, to end the regulatory merry-go-round that delays projects at the moment.
- Simplifying environmental rules to avoid extreme outcomes like Hinkley Point C spending £700m on systems to protect one salmon every ten years, while enhancing nuclear's impact on nature.
- Limiting the ability of spurious legal challenges to delay nuclear projects, which adds huge cost and delay throughout the supply chain.
- Approving fleets of reactors, so that Britain’s nuclear industry can benefit from certainty and economies of scale.
- Directing regulators to factor in cost to their behaviour, and changing their culture to allow building cheaply, quickly and safely.
- Changing the culture of the nuclear industry to end gold-plating and focus on efficient, safe delivery.

If the government adopts our report in full, it will send a signal to investors that it is serious about pro-growth reform and taking on vested interests for the public good.

A thriving British nuclear industry producing abundant, affordable energy would be good for jobs, good for manufacturing, good for the climate, and good for the cost of living. And it could enable Britain to become an AI and technology superpower.

Britain can be a world leader in this new Industrial Revolution, but only if it has the energy to power it.

Our report is bold, but balanced. Our recommendations, taken together and properly implemented, will forge a clear path for stronger economic growth through improved productivity and innovation. This is a prize worth fighting for.

https://t.co/9wPTtkTDMU

[Institute of Economic Affairs @iealondon]

🚨2025 Budget Briefing: The Fiscal Context 🚨

✍️ @TomClougherty

[Robert Colvile @rcolvile]

We think of the British state as a juggernaut. But in many ways, it's often terrifyingly ramshackle - and as I say in @thetimes today, the govt's new announcements on business regulation are the perfect case in point. Nerdy but important thread. (1/?)

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

Lots of people are saying that abolishing stamp duty is pointless because it will just push up property prices by an equal and opposite amount. This is unlikely to be the case.

The economic incidence of SDLT isn’t 100% on the buyer. Because the supply of housing is so fixed (‘inelastic’), sellers bear more of the burden. Some estimates suggest a 60:40 split, with sellers bearing 60% via a lower sale price.

Let’s apply that to the sale of a property with a ‘true’ market value of £500,000 and SDLT of £12,500. The seller’s burden is £7,500, and the buyer’s is £5,000.

The sale price is depressed by £7,500 to £492,500. The buyer pays that + the SDLT = £505,000. Compared to a tax-free world, the seller gets a lower price (-£7.5k), and the buyer pays more overall (+£5k). Both lose out to the taxman.

Abolish the tax, and the £12,500 wedge vanishes. The sale price rises to the ‘true’ market value of £500k. The seller gains £7.5k (vs the old price) and the buyer saves £5k (vs their old total cost). The surplus previously taken by the tax is now split between them.

This is the key economic point. SDLT’s tax wedge destroys mutually beneficial deals, creating ‘deadweight loss’. Abolishing it makes the market more liquid, improving labour mobility and helping people ‘right-size’ their homes as their lives change.

Eliminating SDLT is obviously not a panacea. But the claim ‘prices just go up’ is a misunderstanding. It mistakes the mechanism (a higher headline price) for the outcome (a net gain for both buyer and seller and a more efficient market).

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

📸 Some snaps from #CPC25

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

This means that stamp duty is many times more damaging, as a source of revenue, than broad-based taxes on income and consumption.

Any proposal to permanently cut or abolish it is therefore extremely welcome.

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

Abolishing stamp duty is the single best reform any government could make to Britain's tax system.

As things stand, this outdated and uneconomic levy is wreaking havoc on our already troubled housing market – by deterring sales and depressing house-building...

[Tom Clougherty @TomClougherty]

Indeed, research suggests that the wider social and economic harms are equivalent to three-quarters of the revenue raised – and that's on top of the loss to the people actually paying the tax...

[Joseph Dinnage @jcdinnage]

🇦🇷Looking forward to hosting this @CapX panel at 5pm today at #CPC25 to discuss the great chainsaw-wielding Argentine Javier Milei

Joining me on the panel are:

@jackmrankin
@zatzi
@TomClougherty
@tomhfh

Tune in using the link below👇

https://t.co/pJo1y6Ywmd