We're £12 Trillion in Debt | John O'Connell x Peter McCormack Show

John O’Connell is the chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, a UK-based campaign group advocating for lower taxes, efficient government, and greater transparency in public spending. With years of experience analysing government budgets and economic policy, he has become one of the most vocal critics of Britain’s bloated bureaucracy, broken tax code, and failing public services.

In this interview, John lays out why Britain has stopped growing, how the tax burden has hit a post-war high, and why throwing more money at failing systems is making things worse. We explore the rising cost of living, the impact of over-regulation on small businesses, and how poorly designed taxes like inheritance tax and stamp duty are crippling opportunity and ambition. John argues that political reform, economic discipline, and a simpler tax code are the only way to reverse the UK’s stagnation and unlock real growth for working people.

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00:00:00 – Introduction
00:03:46 – Holding Government Accountable
00:07:05 – Simplifying the Tax System
00:10:13 – NHS: Reform or Collapse?
00:13:36 – Tax Burden at 38%
00:17:17 – Why Wealth Taxes Fail
00:21:04 – Why Small Businesses Struggle
00:26:01 – What Needs Repealing
00:32:58 – 0.5% Growth Is Not Good News
00:36:55 – Break Up the Treasury
00:38:46 – Civil Servants Run the Country
00:41:17 – Where to Cut Spending
00:47:55 – The £12 Trillion Problem
00:49:44 – Pension Reform Is Inevitable
00:55:37 – Just Scrap Inheritance Tax
01:00:00 – Why Tax Feels Like Theft
01:01:31 – Stamp Duty Destroys Mobility
01:04:32 – The Single Income Tax Explained
01:09:11 – VAT Is a Brutal Tax
01:11:57 – Tax Transparency Changes Everything
01:15:00 – Estonia’s Clean Tax Code
01:15:58 – The Spending Problem Is Cultural

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