Osborne rules out tax cuts
Chancellor says tax cuts are unlikely during world economic crisis
CHANCELLOR George Osborne has indicated that the world economic crisis will prevent the government from offering tax cuts during this Parliament.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Osborne said that he does not believe in “tax cuts for Christmas”. He also refused to rule out the possibility of a “mansion tax” on multi-million pound properties, as advocated by the Liberal Democrats.
“We’ll see how things develop in the rest of this parliament,” he said. “I’m a Conservative who believes in lower taxes. They lead to a more enterprising economy. But I’m not somebody who believes you can fund lower taxes by borrowing more money because that is a deceit and the public are smart enough to see straight through it.”
Osborne also said that the debate on the abolition of the 50p tax rate will wait until next year.
Iain Duncan Smith is expected to call for marriage tax breaks in his speech today, which could put the two Cabinet ministers on a collision course.