50% income tax rate lambasted by CBI
Budget measures slammed by industry body
The government’s new 50% top income tax rate has been labelled ‘economic
vandalism’ by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
The criticism was made by Martin Broughton, president of the CBI, at the
organisation’s annual dinner last night, according to
tax-news.com
Broughton said the move was designed to ‘divert media attention’ away from
the country’s fiscal deficit in affording ‘confidence to buyers of our debt.’
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also in attendance, and said the measure was
necessary if the government is to restore public finances.
‘…coming through what is a difficult recession where we have had to wipe
out billions of pounds as a result of banking failures, where we’ve got a
massive loss in tax revenues as a result of the failures in the financial sector
as well the loss of revenues in the corporate sector, we have a duty to act,’ he
said.
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