Tory schism on tax
To tax or not tax, that is the question for the Tories.
The press quickly picked up on an apparent schism at the heart of the Conservative Party this morning on the commitment to advocating a “lower tax Government.”
On the eve of the party conference in Blackpool, Tory spokesman on the economy Michael Howard appeared to offer a less than wholehearted affirmation of traditional Tory economic policy.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, leader Iain Duncan Smith pledged to slash bureaucracy and waste and retain quality public services. But Mr Howard was lukewarn in backing an automatic tax cut promise under a future Tory administration.
“I want to cut taxes, I plan to cut taxes, I hope to cut taxes. I can’t yet make any firm commitment, partly because we haven’t completed our work and partly because we don’t know the state of the economy at the time of the election, we don’t know for example how much Gordon Brown will be borrowing.
‘We will certainly be a lower tax party than Labour- there is no doubt about that. Labour will carry on increasing taxes and we won’t do that and we hope to cut taxes,” he said.
Looking to shift attention from the Conservatives, Mr Howard outlined “the damage” 60 tax rises under Labour was doing.
“We are not going to match Labour’s spending plans, our spending plans are going to come from our policies which will succeed.”
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng, emphasise the difference of emphasis among Tory, MPs said: “First Iain Duncan Smith makes a promise to cut taxes, then Michael Howard says he can’t guarantee to cut taxes.
“It is clear you still can’t trust the party that ruined the economy in the early 1990s, and introduced the biggest tax rise in history, on tax.”
