Not quite what I said...

...but the Tories absolutely have to collect more tax. See, well, any serious Budget preview, or just basic common sense. Universal Credit, Brexit, NHS are the three biggest drivers; there are others.

So politically the question is how to do so without losing votes. Soaking the self-employed is an obvious target. Unions hate them so Labour isn't going to spring to their rescue and the Liberals, who once might have said something, don't really exist any more.

This isn't evil - just political calculation.

Posted By: Old Man, Oct 17, 21:17:41