The Tories give a giant tax cut…to themselves

One of the most annoying aspects in the run up to the election that wasn’t, was the cack-handed manner that Labour handled the Tory announcement on Inheritance Tax.

George Osbourne announced that a Tory government would raise the threshold on IHT to £1million, so ‘only millionaires pay inheritance tax’. It proved quite popular and Labour panicked, as they were not-so-secretly planning an election.

So at the pre-budget report, the Chancellor Alistair Darling announced a rise in the threshold of IHT to roughly £700k for married couples and civil partners.

The ‘Greens’ disappearing act

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed as Gordon Brown and the Government have taken a battering lately over the backdated car tax issue, where older vehicles pay more tax according to how unenvironmentally friendly they are, it’s the absolute silence from the environmentalists who have been campaigning for policies like this for the past few years

My thoughts on the income tax allowance changes

Well, not that anyone cares but here goes anyway.

I woke up today expecting the government to engage in some messy, tinkering changes that would further complicate and already complicated system of tax credits and pensioner allowances. I didn’t believe nearly enough people losing out from the 10 tax abolition would gain and certainly didn’t think anyone else will.

That’s why today’s announcement, that income tax allowances were going to increase, taking 600,000 people out of paying income tax altogether and benefiting approximately 22 million workers to the tune of £120 a year was so welcome and brilliant.

Who needs enemies when you have backbenchers?

I wouldn’t say I’m ecstatic about the abolition of the 10p tax rate, but I’ve had a good year now to get my head around it. That’s right, a full year. The argument for the 10p tax rate is that is benefits low paid workers. The argument against it is that it doesn’t differentiate between different types of low paid workers, who might be more effectively helped by different means other than tax. It’s a complex argument and the way I have summarised it is literally the depth of my current understanding of it.

What annoys me is how now, all of a sudden, Labour MPs have actually realised what it means, and are up in arms about it.