Pre-budget report focus group: what Darling should do
Neal Lawson, Chairman of thinktank Compass, writes in the Observer:
The chancellor needs to use the PBR as a turning point in British politics; to get the economy growing again and resist calls for wholesale cuts but do it in a way that makes the tax system fairer. That means those who can afford to pay more must do so. Compass is calling for the 50p basic rate to be applied to incomes over £100,000; minimum tax bands to mean exactly that and to be unavoidable; the ceiling on national insurance to be lifted; new higher council tax bands to be introduced; all tax havens for “non-doms” to be abolished; a financial transaction tax to be established; socially useless spending schemes, such as ID cards and the renewal of Trident, to be scrapped; and finally the 10p tax band to be reintroduced to make the system more progressive. This brings in almost £50bn in additional revenues. It is not just right; polling by YouGov shows it is popular too.
