Ahead of the budget, a new poll has revealed more Conservative voters oppose George Osborne’s plans to abolish the 50p top rate of tax than support it.
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With speculation mounting over whether the chancellor will announce the abolition of the 50p top rate of tax for earnings over £150,000, a new poll reveals more Conservative voters oppose such a move than support it.
As Chart 1 shows, yesterday’s Sunday Times/YouGov poll (pdf) reveals 46 per cent of Tories polled oppose the abolition, against 45 per cent in favour. The poll also found a majority of Liberal Democrats oppose the abolition, 74%-22% – a higher proportion opposed than amongst Labour voters, who oppose the abolition of the 50p rate by 74% to 22%.
Chart 1:
Overall (£), by a large majority, more than two-to-one, 60% of voters oppose the abolition of the 50p rate against 27% in support, with 13% undecided.
Yesterday, shadow chancellor Ed Balls accused George Osborne of being “out of touch” on the question of the 50p rate, saying he was “playing politics with the national interest”, adding of the 50p abolition idea “it’s crazy”.
He said:
“If George Osborne had the courage of his convictions, he would ask the independent Office of Budget Responsibility he set up to do that examination and he hasn’t. It’s a political report. It’s not an independent report we’re going to get on Wednesday.
“We said the top rate of tax would raise over a billion in the first year, two and a half in the second. Let’s see the numbers. But I have to say I think even if it was half what we were saying, that would compensate for the cuts in tax credits to families on £17,000, which means that they’ll be better off on benefit, losing £73 a week.
“I have to say, Andrew, for families on middle and low incomes seeing their petrol prices up, their fuel bills up, their living standards squeezed, youth unemployment rising, the idea that George Osborne is saying the number one priority is to cut taxes for families on £150,000, they can’t be serious.
“It’s totally out of touch. What planet are they on? Whose side are they on? It’s crazy.”
• Ken fights to save EMA while Boris fights to save top-rate taxpayers 1 Mar 2012
• Memo to 50p tax trashers, #2: The effective tax rate is hardly ever 58p 1 Mar 2012
• Memo to 50p tax trashers: Laffer Curve peaks at over 75 per cent 1 Mar 2012
• It’s official: the 50p tax rate raises revenue 9 Jan 2012
• 50p tax: Still a Tory obsession, still not that exceptional 24 Nov 2011
And today, The Guardian reports Nick Clegg has attempted to assuage Lib Dem anger at Osborne’s proposals, claiming he and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander have negotiated a “Robin Hood” budget that will help the poor, by:
• Cracking down on millionaires who avoid stamp duty on properties worth more than £1m by “enveloping” the properties into private companies based abroad. The Treasury will ensure that any property that is lived in, either by the owner or by a tenant, is subject to stamp duty. This will raise just over £100m.
• Implementing in full a report by Graham Aaronson, the taxation barrister, which calls for new rules to target aggressive tax avoidance. This move has been led by Osborne and the treasury minister David Gauke.
However, Stephen Williams, Lib Dem co-chair of the Treasury select committee, said:
“I certainly don’t think that now would be the right time to announce the abolition of the 50p or the reduction of the 50p rate of tax. 2012 is going to be quite a difficult year for many families up and down the country.”
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58 Responses to “Even Tory voters oppose abolition of 50p rate”
JC
Depends what your view on the purpose of tax is really. Some would say that it exists to penalise those whose behavior we would like to moderate such as smokers, drinkers and there are proposals to attack the larger of us by taxing fats and sugars. Others might say that it is to fund public services, and should be devised to optimally raise the money required within a broad set of requirements such as tax free allowances and gradually increasing bands. Some might even suggest that everyone should be subject to the same rules, so all income is taxed the same way whether it be from capital gains, death duties or from a company you might own.
We need to be sure why a particular tax exists before criticising its modification. If the 50p rate is to penalise certain behavior, we need to be sure that that behavior is one we really don’t want. Changing one tax doesn’t preclude modifying another.
leftlinks
Left Foot Forward – Even Tory voters oppose abolition of 50p rate http://t.co/1iWd16i4
Pulp Ark
Even Tory voters oppose abolition of 50p rate http://t.co/dRhLiSdM #SustainableEconomy #50prate #budget #tax #muslim #tcot #sioa
James Ross
POLL: Even Tory voters oppose abolition of 50p rate, reports @ShamikDas: http://t.co/AiNr20ay #Budget2012
Citizen K
POLL: Even Tory voters oppose abolition of 50p rate, reports @ShamikDas: http://t.co/AiNr20ay #Budget2012