Lies, lies, damned lies and the 50p tax rate

Posted on March 13 2012

As Philip Stephens says in the FT this morning:

Those demanding the chancellor should “cut and be damned” present a confused case. On the one hand they say that the 50 per cent rate stifles enterprise by taking too much from wealth creators; on the other, that it is not raising revenue because it is easily circumvented by clever accountants. It is hard to reconcile the two propositions.

That's because they're irreconcilable.

That's because those making them know they're lying.

The 50p tax rate is raising tax - a great deal if it. I've shown it has to do so.

And it's also absolutely untrue that cutting it will change the rate of growth in the economy by encouraging enterprise - when that is taxed at corporate rates of little more than 25%. So that's also a lie.

So let's move on and talk about what is really needed - which is state investment in jobs, because that's the only thing that will break this economic downturn.

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3 Responses

  1. BenM says:
    March 14 2012 at 11:42 am

    What are you expecting from the publication of the HMRC report next week Richard?

    Should we be on alert for politically massaged figures?

  2. 50p tax rate and Tory triumphalism « Notes from a Broken Society says:
    March 16 2012 at 10:44 am

    […] than billions” despite predicting that it would raise £3 billion per year (with tax expert Richard Murphy arguing convincingly that the take could be as high as £6 billion – the TUC paper to which that article links is essential reading).  At a time when benefits and […]