Tax. We forgot how to build.
Tax is the highest it's been since the Second World War, with the least to show for it in a generation. Yet it's all anyone can talk about, because it's the only thing Britain still knows how to do.
THE GIST ON TAX: "We forgot how to build"
What is the national conversation about?
Whatever your alignment, your newspaper or your news feed, the whole debate is about tax. Where to raise it, where to cut it, who to freeze, who to increase.
Not what to build. Just endless conversations about who pays.
Why not build?
Because building anything in Britain has become impossible. The Lower Thames Crossing planning application ran to 359,000 pages. In Poland a data centre takes six months to get approved. In the UK, five years.
We've built a system where every good intention becomes a rule, and every rule adds another year to the process. Process has become an industry, and a perfect thing to hide behind if you don't want to make a decision.
Why tax, then?
Future leaders have learned that tax is the only thing you can promise and deliver in one parliament. It's the only thing the state can still do quickly.
What does that do to us?
When a country's leadership collapses into redistribution, it becomes a zero sum game. Every gain is someone else's expense and every group becomes a threat. That's why everything feels so fractious and tense.
We're arguing over a shrinking cake because we've almost made it illegal to bake another one. What would you have us build?
What should Britain build first?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
Why is the debate all about tax?
Huw says it's the only thing a leader can promise and deliver in one parliament, since building has become so slow.
How slow is building in Britain?
The Lower Thames Crossing application ran to 359,000 pages, and a data centre takes five years to approve in the UK against six months in Poland.
What is the result?
A zero sum argument where every gain is someone else's expense.
See you on the next one.
What should the next one be? Suggest a topic for Huw to explain
The conversation
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