CBI objects to scrapping of pension tax credits
Business lobby group slams chancellor
Chancellor
Gordon Brown has come under heavy fire from the
Confederation of British Industry over
suggestions that it supported the scrapping of pension tax credits.
Despite Treasury ministers claiming that business leaders urged Gordon Brown
to make the move prior to his first budget in
1997, Richard
Lambert, CBI director-general, said his group objected to the policy.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Lambert said: “This is
a convenient bit of spin by the Treasury.
‘There is no record of any kind that we lobbied for [cuts in tax relief] and
there is no record, because we objected strenuously to the policy.’
Shadow chancellor George Osborne added fuel to the fire by saying: ‘It is
time Gordon Brown faced the music for the damage he’s done to British pensions.’
Further reading:
Budget07: Pensioners’ income tax threshold increased
HMRC tax credit complaints double