New Labour Out of Ideas
Its official the government has run out of ideas! Least that’s the verdict of all the politicos in Westminster after Chancellor Alastair Darling outlined his pre-budget report and managed incorporate into his announcements no fewer than 3 policies previously and recently tabled by opposition parties.
In my last article I compared the election posturing to a poker game, where the Tories bluffed and won, causing Gordon Brown to rule out a snap autumn poll, however now you would have being forgiven for thinking that all this talk of a possible Election was just to get the Tories to cough up some policies so that Labour could rewrite in their own red ink!
Alastair Darling pledged to raise the threshold for inheritance tax (a key proposal at the recent Tory Party Conference) yet also managed to sound like the party which valued marriage by only making this allowance to married couples. We singles still have to pay more, (better get myself hitched).
The main rate of Corporation Tax will be cut by 2% - another Tory idea.
Even the Lib Dems have been imitated, with the Chancellor finally taking up their proposal to switch Air Travel duty from passengers to flights to provide a strong disincentive to airlines who allow planes to travel half full.
Of course we shouldn't be so surprised. This happened before, earlier in the year when the standard rate of Income Tax was cut from 22% to 20%. This was originally a Lib Dem proposal, however in a cynical slight of hand by Gordon Brown; he made it look like he was adopting the Lib Dem lower tax policy but instead gave with one hand and took with the other, abolishing the 10% starter bracket meaning you pay 20% on all earnings beyond your personal allowance.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...
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