Middle-income families and small businesses will receive billions of pounds of tax cuts and benefits in the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report within the next two weeks, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
Really? Coming so soon after the
Glenrothes success, the 11th hour
capitulation in the planned PCS strike and the handily-leaked ‘we’re all under threat!’
report at the weekend, it’s beginning to look a little suspicious, to say the least.
Downing Street sources said that Gordon Brown had been convinced of the case for substantial borrowing to fund a programme of tax cuts and to maintain high public spending to revive Britain’s ailing economy.
And not for any other reason. Oh, dear me, no…!
Treasury officials have been authorised to cost substantial reductions in tax revenue, including the possibility of a 1p cut in income tax, which would hand £4.2 billion back to taxpayers, and the abolition of stamp duty, which comes with a £6 billion price tag.
Less radical but still substantial measures, such as reductions in VAT and fuel duty, are also being considered.
Can people really be bought by a 1p cut in income tax? I think Brown is gambling that they can…
>> the abolition of stamp duty
ReplyDeleteAh yes, that sort of tax cut. The sort where HMG so kindly agrees to go back to the previous level of taxation.
Abolishing stamp duty will help a small number of people, none of whom are those affected by the current crisis. Cut employers' NI to help keep people from being thrown out of work!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I am not the only one joining up the dots on this.
ReplyDeleteThere have just been too many obviously-planted headlines recently.
I think it started with people being allowed to purchase drugs to top up their NHS treatment, but that may just have been the first time I noticed what was going on.
Since that one there has been a tidal wave of spin, hints, and empty promises.
None of it will ever come to pass, of course; it's just background music while the One-Eyed Bandit tries to psych himself up for an election.
He may yet bottle it again.
Since Mandy and Campbell returned there has been a marked presentational improvement.
ReplyDeleteHow would the uncertainty of a GE at a time of crisis go down with the electorate, though? How could even those Spinmeisters square that with Gordon emphasising the need for stability?
Not that I'd mind the chance to see the premature end of him anyway, I now find his very appearance repulsive. How on earth can he get away with saying "the UK is well-placed to weather the storm" and boasting of "our success in reducing borrowing"? They point 180° away from the truth. You'd think the earth would just open up and swallow him, the Phone-throwing, Snotmunching, Freakish...[invective continues. Fade to silence]
Strange, when the Conservatives proposed tax cuts the left-wing media (i.e. the BBC) savaged them. When Comrade Brown proposes it, they all fall into line. Principles? Heh.
ReplyDeleteAnd it looks as though the vaunted 'green taxes' (to save Gaia!!!) are under the bus for at least a year:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/3429019/Labour-U-turn-on-car-tax-rises.html
Another Mandy/Campbell initiative?
Are they really that cynical about the electorate? Well, they've no reason not to me, have they...?