Brighton and Hove Conservatives
challenge Blair on new tax increases
Leading
Conservatives in Brighton and Hove have challenged Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
to rule out fresh tax rises after the next general election.
With the Government having imposed over 66 tax increases since 1997 -
costing the average family an extra £5,000 a year. Mike Weatherley, and Nicholas Boles have demanded
an assurance that National Insurance contributions would not go up again in a
third Labour term.
Launching
their latest campaign document Let Down by Labour on Tax, the two
parliamentary hopefuls pointed out that tax levies had gone up in Gordon
Brown’s two post-election Budgets, and warned the same thing would be likely
to happen again. With independent
experts, such as IFS, OECD, and the ITEM CLUB, estimating a £13 billion black
hole in Labour’s accounts, which could be plugged by a 4 per cent increase in
national insurance contributions - costing an individual on average earnings an
extra £900 per year.
In
1997, Labour inherited a strong economy with falling unemployment, stable
inflation, strong economic growth and public finances heading into good health. A
steadily expanding
economy
was generating strong public finances and Britain was heading for sizeable
fiscal surpluses. That was the true economic legacy of the Conservatives in
1997. In his last Budget in 1996, Kenneth Clarke had built significant fiscal
tightening into the public finances in order to ensure that they moved towards
balance with a forecast budget surplus of 2 per cent of GDP by 2001-02. If
anything, the published forecasts of tax revenues in that Budget understated the
true strength of the public
finances.
And
Tony Blair promised that he had no plans to raise tax telling the Financial
Times on 21 September 1995 ‘we’ve no plans to raise tax at all’. His
manifesto pledged that Labour would be “wise spenders, not big spenders”.
This document reveals the truth behind Labour’s fiscal policies over the last
seven years. In 1997, the Government took £270.7 billion in tax; now they take
£429.4 billion – an increase of 60 per cent. The last Budget revealed that
the Government is planning to increase the tax burden to its highest level in 25
years.
Thanks
to their 66 tax rises, Labour has let Britain down. The Treasury is now taking
an extra £5,000 a year per household than they were in 1997.
Gordon
Brown's taxes include:
-
National Insurance Contributions were put up for employees, employers and the
self-employed, raising an additional £8 billion pounds a year. This came
despite Mr Brown’s earlier acknowledgement that ‘National Insurance is a tax
on ordinary families’.
-
Stamp Duties have been increased in four successive Budgets. Total revenue from
Stamp Duties has trebled under Labour.
-
Council Tax has risen by three times the rate of inflation each year on average
under Labour.
-
50 per cent more people are paying Income Tax at the higher rate.
-
There has been a £5 billion per year raid on pensions.
Nicholas
Boles, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Hove and Portslade
comments: “Gordon Brown is
addicted to tax. The Chancellor has raised taxes 66 times since 1997 and if
Labour win a third term, experts are saying he will need to raise taxes again.
Labour have let people of Brighton and Hove down with their stealth tax
regime.”
Accusing Labour of betraying Britain with failed economic policies and massive tax hikes, he declared: “In the first Budgets after each of their last two election victories, the Government have raised taxes. After the 2001 election it was National Insurance. I challenge them to pledge that they will not raise NICs again if they win the next election.”
Conservative research suggests that a 4 per cent jump in NI contributions would cost a nurse earning £21,325 a year another £57 a month, a teacher with five years' experience earning £25,137 a year an extra £70 a month, a police constable with 10 years' service earning £28,914 a year £83 a month more, and an Army Corporal on a basic salary of £25,503 another £71 a month.
Mike Weatherley
the parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion said:
“It
is expensive enough to live in Brighton and Hove, without the Government adding
to financial pressures with ever increasing taxes.
There is a desperate lack of doctors, nurses and police officers in this
city, and with the Government continuing to take more of people’s hard earned
cash, is no wonder recruitment in these vital services is so difficult.
Despite all the taxing and all the spending, our public services have not
improved. There are still almost one million people on NHS waiting lists;
children played truant a million times last year; and there were three million
violent crimes.”
He
said the Conservative aim was for a lower tax economy, giving people the
opportunity to save, give and spend more of their money. “I want lower taxes
to help Britain stay competitive and to reach the top again. I want lower taxes
because people, not government, make the best decisions about how to spend the
money they earn.”
Conservatives
have launched an on-line calculator for anyone to find out the effect on their
income of Labour’s third term tax rises.
The calculator can be found at http://www.conservatives.com/campaigns/nic.cfm
It will show the extra National Insurance that people would have to pay
if Labour put up NI to fill their ‘black hole’.
Brighton
Pavilion Conservative Parliamentary Candidate
Conservative
Parliamentary Candidate for Hove and Portslade
Nicholas
can be contacted on 07785
926426 or email nicholas@boles4hove.org
The
66 Tax Rises
2
July 1997
1
Mortgage tax relief cut
2
Pensions Tax
3
Health insurance taxed
4
Health insurance taxed again.
5
Fuel tax escalator up
6
Vehicle Excise Duty up
7
Tobacco duty escalator up
8
Stamp duty up for properties over £250,000
9
Corporation Tax changes
10
New Windfall Tax on utilities
17
March 1998
11
Married couple’s allowance cut
12
Tax on travel insurance up
13
Tax on casinos and gaming machines up
14
Fuel tax escalator brought forward
15
Tax on company cars up
16
Tax relief for foreign earnings abolished
17
Tax concession for certain professions abolished
18
Capital Gains Tax imposed on certain non-residents
19
Reinvestment relief restricted
20
Corporation Tax payments brought forward
21
Higher stamp duty rates up
22
Some hydrocarbon duties up
23
Additional diesel duties
24
Landfill Tax up
9
March 1999
25
NIC earnings limit raised
26
NICs for self-employed up
27
Married Couple’s Allowance abolished
28
Mortgage tax relief abolished
29
IR35: Taxation of personal services companies
30
Company car business mileage allowances restricted
31
Tobacco duty escalator brought forward
32
Insurance Premium Tax up
33
Vocational Training Relief abolished
34
Employer NICs extended to all benefits in kind
35
VAT on some banking services up
36
Premiums paid to tenants by landlords taxed
37
Duty on minor oils up
38
Vehicle Excise Duties for lorries up
39
Landfill tax escalator introduced
40
Higher rates of stamp duty up again
21
March 2000
41
Tobacco duties up
42
Higher rates of stamp duty up again
43
Extra taxation of life assurance companies
44
Rules on Controlled Foreign Companies extended
17
April 2002
45
Personal allowances frozen
46
National Insurance threshold frozen
47
NICs for employers up
48
NICs for employees up
49
NICs for self-employed up
50
North Sea taxation up
51
Tax on some alcoholic drinks up
52
New stamp duty regime
53
New rules on loan relationships
9
April 2003
54
VAT on electronically supplied services
55
IR35 applied to domestic workers
56
Betting duty change
57
Tax on red diesel and fuel oil up
58
Controlled Foreign Companies measures on Ireland
59
Vehicle excise duty up
17
March 2004
60
New 19 per cent tax rate for owner-managed businesses
61
New tax on private use of company vans
62
UK UK transfer pricing introduced
63
Increase in rate of tax on trusts
64
Increase in tax on red diesel fuel
65
Increase in tax on other road fuels (including LPG)
Every
April
66 Council Tax up