Editing Gordon Brown (section)

===Taxation and spending===
During the 1997 election campaign and subsequently, Brown pledged not to increase the basic or higher rates of [[income tax]]. Over his Chancellorship he reduced the basic rate from 23% to 20%; however, in all budgets but his final one, he increased the tax thresholds in line with inflation rather than with earnings, resulting in [[fiscal drag]]. Under Brown, [[corporation tax]] fell from a main rate of 33% to 28%, and from 24% to 19% for [[small business]]es.<ref name="AdamBrowne">Adam, S. and J. Browne: {{cite web |title=A survey of the UK tax system |url=http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn09.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817100806/http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn09.pdf |archive-date=17 August 2015}}&nbsp;{{small|(2.74&nbsp;MB)}} (), [[Institute for Fiscal Studies]], [[Briefing note]] No. 9, March 2006</ref> In 1999, he introduced a lower [[10p tax rate|income tax band of 10%]]. He abolished this 10% tax band in [[Alistair Darling#10% income tax band|his last budget]] in 2007 to reduce the basic rate from 22% to 20%, increasing tax for 5 million people<ref name="indy_10revolt">{{Cite news |last=Grice |first=Andrew |date=4 April 2008 |title=Brown faces revolt over scrapping 10p income tax band |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brown-faces-revolt-over-scrapping-10p-income-tax-band-804528.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=20 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206111335/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brown-faces-revolt-over-scrapping-10p-income-tax-band-804528.html?r=RSS |archive-date=6 December 2008}}</ref> and, according to the calculations of the [[Institute for Fiscal Studies]], leaving those earning between £5,000 and £18,000 as the biggest losers.<ref name="times_10criticism">{{Cite news |last1=Oakeshott |first1=Isabel |author1-link=Isabel Oakeshott |last2=Leppard |first2=David |date=20 April 2008 |title=Gordon Brown cornered as rebellion over 10p tax reform grows |work=[[The Sunday Times]] |location=London |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3779976.ece |url-status=dead |access-date=15 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716143852/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3779976.ece |archive-date=16 July 2011}}</ref> To backbench cheers, Brown had described the measure in his last Budget thus: "Having put in place more focused ways of incentivising work and directly supporting children and pensioners at a cost of £3bn a year, I can now return income tax to just two rates by removing the 10p band on non-savings income".<ref>{{cite web |date=9 May 2008 |title=FactCheck: temporary 10p tax |url=http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/business_money/factcheck%2Btemporary%2B10p%2Btax/2163447.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084411/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/business_money/factcheck+temporary+10p+tax/2163447.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=21 May 2015 |website=[[Channel 4 News]]}}</ref> Brown also implemented the [[Windfall tax (United Kingdom)|Windfall Tax]] in 1997 on the privatised utilities. The tax produced an estimated one-off income to the government of £5 billion, which was used to fund the New Deal for Young People, a welfare-to-work program that sought to tackle long-term unemployment.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Olle |first=Hannah |date=July 2022 |title=The New Deal for Young People (NDYP) |url=https://www.edge.co.uk/documents/319/LFP13final.pdf |journal=Learning from the Past |volume=13}}</ref>

According to the [[OECD]], UK taxation increased from a 39.3% share of gross domestic product in 1997 to 42.4% in 2006, going to a higher level than that of Germany.<ref>OECD: [http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/5/51/2483816.xls General Government Outlays as percentage of GDP] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208163319/http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/5/51/2483816.xls |date=8 December 2015}} ([[Microsoft Office Excel]] table)</ref> This increase has mainly been attributed to active government policy, and not simply to the growing economy. Conservatives have accused Brown of imposing "[[stealth tax]]es". A commonly reported example resulted in 1997 from a technical change in the way [[corporation tax]] is collected, the indirect effect of which was for the [[dividend]]s on [[stock]] investments held within pensions to be taxed, thus lowering pension returns and contributing to the demise of most of the final salary pension funds in the UK.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Halligan |first=Liam |author-link=Liam Halligan |date=16 October 2006 |title=Brown's raid on pensions costs Britain £100&nbsp;billion |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1531448/Brown%27s-raid-on-pensions-costs-Britain-andpound100-billion.html |url-status=dead |access-date=1 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830070813/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1531448/Brown%27s-raid-on-pensions-costs-Britain-andpound100-billion.html |archive-date=30 August 2008}}</ref>

Brown's 2000 Spending Review outlined a major expansion of [[government spending]], particularly on health and education. In his April 2002 budget, Brown increased [[National Insurance]] to pay for health spending. He also introduced [[working tax credit]]s,<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 May 2006 |title=More get tax credit overpayments |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5032170.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060602213010/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5032170.stm |archive-date=2 June 2006}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn52.pdf#search=%22working%20tax%20credit%2016%20hours%22 The impact of tax and benefit changes between April 2000 and April 2003 on parents' labour supply] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928050618/http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn52.pdf#search=%22working%20tax%20credit%2016%20hours%22 |date=28 September 2006}} Blundell, R., M. Brewer and A. Shepherd, [[Institute for Fiscal Studies]], Briefing Note No. 52, 2004</ref> and in his last budget as Chancellor, Brown gave an extra £3&nbsp;billion in pension allowances, an increase in the child tax credit, and an increase in the working tax credit. These increases were followed by another £1&nbsp;billion of support for increases in the child tax credit.<ref>Whatever it Takes: The Real Story of Gordon Brown and New Labour</ref>

Under Brown, the tax code, the standard guide to tax, doubled in length to 17,000 pages.<ref>{{cite web |last=Houlder |first=Vanessa |date=7 September 2006 |title=Guide to tax code doubles in length under Brown |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/89af8ff0-3e0d-11db-bd60-0000779e2340.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/89af8ff0-3e0d-11db-bd60-0000779e2340.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |website=Financial Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hyde |first=Marina |date=13 February 2015 |title=Britain's tax code is an incredible 17,000 pages long, surely a dog-whistle to the very rich |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/13/britain-tax-code-17000-pages-long-dog-whistle-very-rich |url-status=live |access-date=14 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804151829/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/13/britain-tax-code-17000-pages-long-dog-whistle-very-rich |archive-date=4 August 2016}}</ref>