Darling starts doing what I suggest
May 13th, 2008
Yesterday I suggested how Alastair Darling should deal with the 10p tax rate problem.
Today he has announced that he has accepted my first two recommendations (which I have not seen elsewhere) adjusting the sums only to allow for winter fuel allowance.
Let’s now hope he moves on and adopts steps 3 to 5.
Congratulations.
given that he had little other option, then that your first two predictions came close is not surprising - but I fail to see the relevance of the other 3 suggestions you make to those likely to be impacted by the 10% band scrapping.
They are designed to pay for this in the long term. Borwoing isn’t the long term solution.
The reason why these benefit those in the lower income brackets is that these will raise tax from these with the means to pay.
I believe in progressive taxation.
Richard, that makes sense, except that soaking the middle classes is starting to hurt labour at the ballot box. Which means that it is also not a long term solution.
Alastair
I stopping tax evasion soaking the middle classes?
Richard
at least 2 of those 3 items represent avoidance rather than evasion - you might call it “fairness” but you are seeking to change something that is allowed for in current legislation. But whatever, the impact is to take more in tax from middle England, and middle England appears to have had enough. Although I think Gordon would be in a better place if he had not been caught out manipulating the tax system for his own political ends - nothing particularly fair about the cynical way he meddled with rates. Personally I don’t think he will recover from that.
Alastair
I’m not here to discuss whether GB survives or not. I disucss tax justice. I suspect that whoever embraced these would increase their electoral appeal. Middle England does not like cheats.
Richard