Douglas Carswell's Blog

Can't afford tax cuts?

For every £1 you earn, the government typically takes between 20p and 40p income tax before you even see the money.  Plus national insurance on top of that. 

Government then helps itself to a 20 percent VAT charge each time you buy something.  And some 70 percent each time you fill up the car.  And extra-Parliamentary taxation "green" levies each time you pay a utility bill. They'll even tax you if you have anything left over at the end and try to save it.

Add up all those various taxes, and most of the £1 that you earned is taken by government, leaving you – according to different estimates – between 30p and 40p to spend on yourself and your family.

The latest hikes in VAT and fuel duty will take a further £480 away each year from what an average family is allowed to keep.

Yet why are politicians always willing to stimulate the economy by spending more, but less keen on doing the opposite - boosting the economy by taxing us less?   

“Look at the deficit!” comes the standard answer from some sections of the commentariat. “We can’t afford tax cuts”

Really? 

But we could afford to add £1,300 Billion to the national debt when the credit crunch hit - more than twice the total annual UK tax take. 

Where did that £1,300 Billion go? Who has it? £1,300 Billion is enough to give every person, household and business in Britain a complete tax holiday for more than two years. Or abolish income tax for a decade. Or scrap fuel duty, corporation tax and inheritance tax altogether.

Imagine how the economy would be performing today if, instead of government spending the way it did, it taxed us all a little less?

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