YESTERDAY'S 'mini-budget' will go down in history as one of the greatest ever transfers of wealth to the already-rich and privileged.
There is also a real danger it will prove one of the most ill-judged courses of action by a British government, with consequences that could leave taxpayers and public services paying the price for generations to come.
New prime minister Liz Truss and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have embarked on the biggest round of tax cuts in half century – dwarfing even those of Margaret Thatcher – with the stated aim of stimulating anaemic economic growth.
The most striking measure is the abolition of the top rate of income tax paid by those earning more than £150,000.
A more modest one per cent cut in the basic rate is also being brought forward by a year, while the recent rise in National Insurance to pay for social care and the NHS has been reversed. Stamp duty on house sales is also being slashed, while a hike in corporation tax has been cancelled.
The tax changes means that people earning £500,000 will now pay the same as those on £50,000 - a windfall worth an average of £10,000 to the one per cent club.
The argument for enriching the already-rich at a time when families are struggling to heat their homes or put food on tables is that tax cuts will turbo-charge the economy and 'trickle down' to benefit us all.
Taken together, yesterday's announcements represent a reckless £45 billion roll of the dice in the face of a recession, inflation running at a 40-year high and interest rates at their highest in 14 years.
To say there is scepticism about the plan would be an understatement. The theory of trickle-down economics has been widely discredited, with US President Joe Biden declaring this week that it has "never worked". To lift caps on bankers' bonuses during a cost-of-living crisis is frankly obscene.
The verdict of markets yesterday was to give the pound another pummelling amid fears of further interest rate rises.
Of course if the British government wants a way to boost growth, it could start by dismantling self-imposed barriers with its largest trading partner in Europe.
But after 12 years in power it is hard to escape the conclusion that this is a Conservative Party devoid of serious policies or politicians at a time when the economic challenges have never been so acute.
