Weakonomics

More economic illiteracy from shadow chancellor George Osborne:

“Ahead of a speech to business bosses' organisation the CBI, he said all policy ideas due to be put forward in the next few months would have to pass ‘sound money tests’, to make such they were affordable and would not damage public finances.
…
“He will say any specific tax proposals - such as recognising marriage, will be paid for by tax increases on things like pollution.”

As I’ve said, the point of taxing pollution is to reduce the amount of pollution by making it more expensive. So if his green tax policies (not that he has any yet) work, then they’ll produce diminishing tax receipts as people and firms change their behaviour.

But tax breaks for married couples (and apparently this is a “value” rather than a “policy”), if successful, will increase marriage rates, causing the cost to rise.

‘Sound money’? Yep, sounds like a lot of money.