Steerpike Steerpike

Fact check: are the Tories cutting taxes?

BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images

Ping! No, not the dreaded Covid app but rather another beseeching email from CCHQ, begging money for Tory funds. Reading through the party-politicking, Mr S was curious to see that among the party’s list of achievements was the claim that ‘we’re delivering what the British people voted for’ by ‘cutting taxes for hardworking people.’ 

An intriguing boast, given that Rishi Sunak is hiking National Insurance, which applies to all employees including those on minimum wage, by an effective 2.5 per cent – despite the Conservative Party’s pledge in 2019 that ‘we will not raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance.’ Corporation tax has been raised to 25 per cent from 2023 while Air Passenger Duty on long-haul flights was increased in last month’s Budget.

The personal income tax allowance has been frozen while the cut in the taper rate for Universal Credit applies to just a tiny subset of people on benefits. Unsurprisingly, when Steerpike asked CCHQ for any evidence or supporting statement to the claim that the party had cut taxes, no answer was henceforth coming.

Screenshot_2021-11-24_at_12.00.19.png
The email Steerpike received this morning

For as research by the Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) helpfully points

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in