Tax-cutting Conservatives

[AtW]

"Rishi Sunak wins tug-of-war over national insurance hike

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have jointly pledged to push ahead with a £12 billion hike in national insurance in a rebuke to MPs who have demanded that they scrap the tax rise to ease the cost-of-living crisis.

..

Sunak has privately told Johnson that unless they both hold the line now on MPs’ demands, there is no way he can cut income tax before the next election.

A VAT cut to fuel would cost more than £2 billion a year, eating up 40 per cent of the £5 billion the chancellor needs to cut 1p off the basic rate of income tax. "

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/r...hike-f85bzgs76

So, the cunning plan is to increase income tax (aka NICs) to get £12 bln, and give 1 point drop on income tax during election because they are "tax-cutting Conservatives", more like tax-increasing chunts.

3... 2... 1... for malvolio to say Labour would have done worse...

[ladymuck]

Well the NI increase is going to switch to a different tax and will show as a new line item on your payslip - something like 'social care levy' IIRC. So that rise is never going away.

What's potentially more cheeky is that if the NI rise isn't reverted and the 'social care levy' also gets added AND they drop income tax by 1%, it actually becomes another net tax increase!

Watch out for that one in a couple of years' time.

Labour would have taxed the rich, aka Tory donors, and anyone with the temerity to earn over something pitiful like £50k.

[SueEllen]

Labour would have taxed the rich, aka Tory donors, and anyone with the temerity to earn over something pitiful like £50k.

Not always. Gordon Brown screwed over low earners to give an overall tax cut.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...my.gordonbrown

[malvolio]

Well the NI increase is going to switch to a different tax and will show as a new line item on your payslip - something like 'social care levy' IIRC. So that rise is never going away.

What's potentially more cheeky is that if the NI rise isn't reverted and the 'social care levy' also gets added AND they drop income tax by 1%, it actually becomes another net tax increase!

Watch out for that one in a couple of years' time.

Labour would have taxed the rich, aka Tory donors, and anyone with the temerity to earn over something pitiful like £50k.

Yep, already thought of that one. Fully expect to see it happen some time between the May elections and the 2023 budget. It's a shame in a way that the money has been labelled an NI rise, when in fact it is genuinely a new social care levy. The main fear is that it won't do any good at all and just get swallowed up by the voracious NHS management.

To be fair it all rather depends on how well this supposed boom continues to generate tax revenue ahead of forecasts and how well Sunak can pay back the current overdraft. Signs of that are not quite so hopeful.

As for Labour, who knows. They haven't actually declared any intention to do anything other than say whatever is being done is wrong. that will change when they eventually realise that "opposition" doesn't mean "oppose", it means "and suggest an alternative", preferably a non-Corbyn solution that might actually work. Signs of that are not hopeful at all.

[ladymuck]

Not always. Gordon Brown screwed over low earners to give an overall tax cut.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...my.gordonbrown

Good point. It would seem neither party likes to stick to their stereotyped behaviours.

It'll be hilarious if Labour went to an election on a mandate of small government and low taxation.

[vetran]

By raising the tax threshold and minimum wage the conservatives have done some good.

Universal credit though badly implemented seems a step forward.

[SueEllen]

Good point. It would seem neither party likes to stick to their stereotyped behaviours.

It'll be hilarious if Labour went to an election on a mandate of small government and low taxation.

Labours mandate could be localism e.g. local government, considering how popular some of their mayors are, which would mean small national government and smaller national taxation.

[AtW]

when in fact it is genuinely a new social care levy.

False. It is in FACT, for real, a new name for the same income tax, just with different thresholds and for political reasons taken also from businesses.

What's worse is that it's called differently and set at "low" level of 1.25%, so it's a 100% certainty that next Govt will increase it.

Far better would have been to get VAT to 25% - maybe 30% on real luxiries (ie expensive cars), but I am sure we'll get there, on top of current taxation.

[AtW]

how well Sunak can pay back the current overdraft.

If you mean by that paying off the debt incurrered then this will NEVER happen.

I don't even believe this country will ever have a budget without any deficit - not with taxes like this, and certainly not with muppets in charge.

[malvolio]

If you mean by that paying off the debt incurrered then this will NEVER happen.

I don't even believe this country will ever have a budget without any deficit - not with taxes like this, and certainly not with muppets in charge.

No, it will never happen, no matter how much "money" the UK has in the bank. That's basic macroeconomics: no major economy will ever be out of debt, if only because they trade with other economies. Have you seen how much China owes...?