Bonkers tax-cutters
From punk tax cuts to bonkers tax cuts. I could not believe what Gordon Brown was saying this morning, that Conservative tax cuts didn't count because they were "funded" - that is, paid for by savings elsewhere.
Never mind that the mechanism by which David Cameron and George Osborne hope to pay for their fiddly, complicating tax break for companies hiring the unemployed is purest sky-pie, namely the savings on benefit payments.
For Brown to advocate unfunded tax cuts - that is, paid for by more borrowing - suddenly takes us into the political economy of Alice in Wonderland.
Nick Robinson says of this morning's rival news conferences held by Brown and Cameron:
Both men have an interest as presenting this as a big political divide. It may in truth turn out to be much less so.
I don't agree. I thought the divide was small, because a week ago all that Brown was proposing was to bring forward a few big infrastructure projects. That meant that there was little difference between cosmetic Tory tax cuts and Labour spending increases. But now Brown hints at big tax cuts paid for by higher borrowing. It is a complete reversal of his previous rhetoric, even if he hasn't stuck to it since about 2003.
I cannot understand the current presentation of Brown as a statesman suddenly come into his own, while Cameron and Osborne are portrayed as schoolboys who have responded to the economic crisis erratically and uncertainly. Higher borrowing - on top of the much higher borrowing that kicks in automatically because tax receipts fall in a recession - will make matters worse in the long run.
Brown is making it up as he goes along, as he has done since his golden rules were rewritten to suit his political ambitions, only now it is serious, and seriously wrongheaded. While Cameron and Osborne have been sensible and prudent, backed by "serious people" such as Terry Burns and Nigel Lawson.
I'm not saying Brown isn't being confusing here, talking about unfunded tax cuts from the Tories before saying tax cuts that are revenue neutral aren't a stimulus, and so on so forth.
But if you haven't seen the breadth of criticism of the Tories today from business groups across the country then you must be seriously blinded by your dislike of Gordon Brown.
Are you taking the p*ss with your links? One to a link to George Osbourne quoting Terry Burns, and the other to the son of a Conservative ex-chancellor?
How about Irwin Stelzer saying that Brown has got the response to the recession 'broadly right' in a recent article?
You can't just lather your so-called arguments with a few selective, half-baked links.
If you genuinely think that Osbourne and Cameron have been statesmanlike and unconfused over their response to the economic crisis...words fail me.
Try checking out PoliticsHome:
http://www.politicshome.com/#4443
where even right-wing journalists don't think the Tory 'tax plans' will work.
And check out Hopi Sen while you're at it, not for his opinion, in so much as it's left-wing so obviously isn't 'fact' but for his quotations of the Tories that reveal them to be opportunistic at best and utterly bereft of ideas at a more honest assessment.
http://hopisen.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/tory-tax-policy-and-the-tinkerbell-test/
Posted by: Labourboy | Tuesday, 11 November 2008 at 09:33 PM
It's a zero sum game anyway. So no matter what they say or promise our leaders know who is going to pay for their grand economic strategies in the end. Joe Public. If he's got any money left. Imagine if debtors still went to prison like in Little Dorrit's day. Most of the country would be in the Marshalsea. Except our leaders of course who would still be ranting on about saving the economy, and the Masters of the Universe who would still be asking Brown for more money - from their yachts in the Caribbean. It's time for a revolution in the streets, French style. Sign painters would be employed again doing placards, hot-dog vendors and chestnut sellers would be back in work, ways of fending off debt-collectors would be shared, new friends would be made - beats the heck out of paying taxes to befuddled
politicians.
Posted by: john problem | Wednesday, 12 November 2008 at 08:44 AM
So refreshing to read one journalist who consistently refuses to tow the Downing Street/media line.
Posted by: sheepdip | Wednesday, 12 November 2008 at 08:56 AM
I think the welfare horse is bolting just when the jobs are drying up. Reforming welfare to work will be extremely hard in a recession because the jobs for the long-tem unemployed won't be there as vacancies are more likely to be taken up by those recently made redundant. The Tory idea is bold and imaginative though and deserves some credit.
Posted by: Michael | Wednesday, 12 November 2008 at 09:19 AM
The Brown/Darling plan, if implemented, would be a complete disaster. Like many other of NuLiebour's confidence tricks it would amount to nothing more than a short-term bribe for the gullible to suck on, but one that the taxpayer will pay for many times over in the near future.
Taxes need to be cut in order to stimulate the economy and keep struggling families afloat.
VAT should be cut to 15% immediately (this is the minimum level that our invisible government in Brussels will allow), which will cost around £10 billion. National Insurance could also be cut, as this is free from EUSSR control. Both of these cuts could be funded by abandoning ID cards (£18 billion) and cancelling the creation of the NHS database (£12 billion), neither of which are wanted by the majority of the electorate.
The danger is that Brown and his politburo will put their own short-term political interest before that of the nation’s long-term interest without a second thought of the consequences for the rest of us.
Posted by: Keith Lonsdale | Thursday, 13 November 2008 at 03:16 PM