In an apparent bid to shake off his reputation as a high-tax, high spend chancellor who has raised the burden to its highest sustained level since the 1950s, Mr Sunak has ordered Treasury officials to draw up options for cutting levies including income tax, VAT and inheritance tax ahead of the election expected in 2024.
Treasury sources today insisted that work was at an "exploratory" stage and no preferred options had yet been selected, playing down reports in The Times that the chancellor is considering reducing the 20p basic rate of income tax by 2p and scrapping the 45p upper rate altogether.
One option being examined is understood to be a 1p cut in the basic rate of income tax in both 2023 and 2024 as a sweetener to 31 million voters liable for the tax in the run-up to the general election.
A leading economic think tank said it would be "indefensible” for Mr Sunak to target income tax for cuts so soon after hiking national insurance on employees and employers by a total of 2.5 per cent to raise £12bn for the NHS and social care.
Bu hikaye The Independent dergisinin December 05, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Independent dergisinin December 05, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
DON'T GET SHIRTY
With the first peek of summer comes the inevitable tutting about men walking around without a top on. Oliver Keens has had enough, and gets his feelings off his (bare) chest
Why don't airlines agree on cabin baggage allowances?
Q An idea I had yesterday in Alicante airport: why don’t all the airlines do the right thing and standardise cabin baggage? All of them have different rules and different-sized frames to fit a cabin bag in.
Your job is safe - it is your partner who should worry
Google and OpenAI just unveiled chatbots that can see, hear, speak – and even flirt – like humans. With interest in virtual companions surging, Anthony Cuthbertson looks at the effect this could have on our relationships with each other
Sound and the Fury: Usyk's legend confirmed - he can ignore noise of a rematch.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk fought to a bloody, exhausted and brutal standstill in a battle for far more than the various championship belts they paraded at the end.
Verstappen holds off Norris to claim victory in Imola
Max Verstappen held off a dramatic Lando Norris fightback to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Klopp bids farewell with final day win over Wolves
Liverpool sent departing manager Jurgen Klopp on his way with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Wolves as the Anfield faithful finally bade an emotional farewell to their beloved boss after eight and a half years.
Gunners end season with win as title dreams vanish
As the Arsenal fans sang joyously, you wouldn’t necessarily have thought they had just finished second.
City cement place as one of England's greatest teams
And so, some 136 years after the foundation of the Football League, England finally has a team who have done the quartet.
Diddy apologises for attack on partner caught on video
Sean “Diddy” Combs has posted an Instagram video apologising for beating his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, in the wake of footage of the 2016 incident being released.
Gantz to quit if Netanyahu fails to make plan for Gaza
The Israeli prime minister is under mounting pressure from his war cabinet over his approach to the conflict with Hamas