Ed Balls calls on government to cut taxes in Budget

LABOUR SHADOW chancellor Ed Balls has said the government should cut tax in next month's Budget in order to boost growth.

Mr Balls' ideas include a VAT cut, a 3p income tax cut for a year, bringing forward the planned personal allowance rise to £10,000 and higher tax credits, the BBC reported.

No tax cut could mean "a permanent dent in our nation's prosperity", he said.

The Conservatives said excessive borrowing and debt under Labour had led to the current financial mess.

Mr Balls told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show that the current austerity measures were "self defeating" and had left Chancellor George Osborne claiming he was "trapped by the credit rating agencies".

The shadow chancellor said he favoured a cut in VAT - which is a sales tax rather than a tax on income - because it would be the "fastest and fairest" way of boosting the economy.

"We've got to get growth back in the economy," he told the programme.