We are continually told that Rachel Reeves faces a “difficult budget” (Rachel Reeves to lift two-child benefit cap in November budget, 30 September). Really? Is it that difficult for a Labour chancellor to find ways to fund a major reduction in child poverty?

The higher taxes on the gambling industry suggested by Gordon Brown might well be “baked into” the Treasury’s calculations already, but there are many other opportunities available for raising the cash, from closing loopholes and ending tax reliefs to equalising capital gains and income tax.

Even Margaret Thatcher and her chancellor Nigel Lawson came to the conclusion that the rate of capital gains tax and income tax should be equal, with the latter saying, in 1988, that it was “by no means clear” why earned income should be taxed more heavily than unearned. Did the rich leave in their hundreds after the decision? Of course not, and not only would equalisation raise billions, but being the fair thing to do, it wouldn’t be difficult either.

Furthermore, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies said in 2019, low rates of capital gains tax on business income lead to large tax savings but “do not boost investment”.

Reeves claims the “world has changed” since her last budget, but rents are still being raised simply to maximise landlords’ profits, businesses’ pay ratios often exceed two figures, banks still escape windfall taxes despite record profits made by holding down savings rates, council tax still needs reform, and increased profit margins still make the term “greedflation” relevant today. In such a time of emergency, the taxes on businesses need to be at the “historic highs” referred to by the CBI’s chief executive last week, and all those with the means should not complain at having to pay them. What’s so difficult, Ms Reeves?
Bernie Evans
Liverpool

Keir Starmer has declared that “the defining mission of this government is to grow the economy”. You rightly claim that “such language leaves voters cold” (Editorial, 30 September). Moreover, such a claim does not distinguish Labour from Reform UK or any other political party. No party is going to declare itself to be against growing the economy. Labour’s defining mission should be to ensure a fairer social distribution of the wealth created by the economy, whether it is growing, static or even declining. Diminishing inequalities in our society should be Labour’s defining and distinctive mission. Its blinkered vision, its focus on the economy, fails to recognise, let alone redress, the growing social inequalities in Britain today.
Dr Alan Baker
Cambridge

If we needed any more damning evidence of the demise of the Labour party, the expulsion of Owen Jones and Rivkah Brown from the party conference surely seals the deal (My conference pass was revoked for asking difficult questions: this is Keir Starmer’s Labour, 30 September). It sends a strong message about who is welcome within the Labour movement. A commitment to media freedom and open debate is a hallmark of democratic politics, and Labour is straying from its traditional broad left-leaning position.

It can only be interpreted as an attempt to control the narrative, limit dissent and marginalise critical voices. This is taken directly from the Trump playbook and is made even more damaging by the fact that GB News had an on-site studio in the conference zone.
Donald Third
Killin, Stirling

I was disappointed to see the Guardian adopt the conservative press’s language of “raid” to describe proposed tax changes (Rachel Reeves gets a warm reception but business chiefs are wary of another tax raid, theguardian.com, 30 September). To call the ordinary business of funding public services a “raid” is to smuggle in the assumption that taxation is theft. It isn’t: it is how we pay for hospitals, schools and other necessities of a civilised society.
James Douet
Aylsham, Norfolk