Europe Is Heading Toward Budgetary Ruin

As the British people approach the Christmas season, many of us anticipate less the pleasure of eating turkey than the nigh-certain pain of having our own feathers plucked. On Nov. 26, Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will unveil a budget that she admits will be dominated by an assault on our wallets. There is speculation about prospective increases in income tax, big hits on the better-off, new property taxes and even a possible levy on capital assets.

This is made necessary by a black hole in Britain’s public finances so deep that The Economist recently asserted that the government is going bust. Interest on debt consumes a larger portion of state revenue than does defense, infrastructure or education. More than half of British people take more cash from the state than they pay in taxes.