Cut tax for under 35s or watch them leave the country
The most pressing choice I faced over the past week was whether to swim in the pool or the sea. We lounged our way from lazy lunch to long dinner, occasionally mustering the energy to stroll to the boulangerie.
As I put the key in the front door of our south London home last night it dawned on me that I was swimming in the sun just five hours earlier, and I paused on the front step thinking, “is this commutable?” Then the sight of HMRC’s unmistakeable brown envelopes on the doormat snapped me back to reality. As did the unpaid congestion charge fine.
I wouldn’t be the first person to return from holiday thinking “how can I get a bit more of that in my life?” and of course, it was just a holiday; the entire experience was curated to be as little like normal life as possible.
My wife and I have never given serious thought to emigrating. We have careers and families here, and we actually like living in London. But we are aware of a serious vibe shift among friends. In fact we’re more than just aware; we feel it keenly, too.
If we didn’t have personal and professional ties would we look around us and think that this is a country on the up, and that we’ve won the lottery of life? Would we feel that the future looks golden?
I don’t think we would. Because it doesn’t.
Living standards stagnate for another decade
High taxes, rocketing house prices, poor public services and a sense of insecurity hang over most of us. The ‘lost decade’ of growth following the financial crisis is turning into a lost 20 years. The Resolution Foundation has warned that typical real income is set to grow by a pointless one per cent over the next five years.
This is a depressing and deplorable state of affairs, and so it comes as no surprise that just under 30 per cent of 18-30 year olds are either seriously considering leaving the country or have already decided to do so.
Portugal faced a crisis of this nature and responded by cutting taxes for the under 35s, yet in the UK it seems only pensioners are set to buck the trend of declining living standards over the course of this decade.
Optimism is a vital ingredient for a country’s success. Without it, the future simply becomes something to be endured – or avoided.