How do we get fairer tax?

Written by david chappell and published in EADT on Mon 29th Mar 2010

There has been a lot of pressure on George Osbourne to come clean on the policies he intends to implement in the increasingly unlikely event that we have stand alone Tory Government. He seems to want the public to trust him and elect a Tory government, but doesn't seem to trust us to elect the Tories if he tells us what he plans. Perhaps he has good reason to have such fears since it is possible that he might have some plans and he may know those plans may alarm ordinary voters. Even if he does make a promise can we trust such promises? After all Margaret Thatcher made a clear promise not to double VAT in 1979 and she didn't. She increased it from 8% to 15%, which was not quite double. That decision triggered rampant inflation.

Getting us out of the mess the investment bankers in the city have got us into may well be painful, but will only be acceptable if we establish a fair taxation system. Under Labour the gap between the rich and poor has widened. Little has been done to end the poverty trap, and the people on the lowest incomes still pay the highest proportion of tax. We all know that is not right but what can be done?

At the moment many bankers and top businessmen are paid in shares as well as high salaries. Despite their high salaries they pay less tax when paid in shares. Since they are already on a high income we don't think they should be given such a tax break. We propose to make capital gains tax match income tax and this will help us raise income tax allowance to £10,000 which will help those who need it the most without causing any damage to the economy. Instead those who are most in need of it will spend it giving the economy a boost.