 What a refreshing change to hear some good news for savers and pensioners these days; in the form of a £4.1billion tax break. With the Bank of England cutting rates to a 300 year low this week, the abolition of income tax on savings for basic rate-payers and the raising of the tax-threshold for pensioners by £2,000 is a welcome sign that Conservatives are on the side of the vulnerable.
It stands in marked contrast to the Government's calamity of measures, largely reactionary, to the current downturn; a simplistic 'borrow and bail-out' model will only seek to prolong the inevitable. Also added expenditure in contrived public works schemes does little to help cure the cause; and besides, one would have thought the London 2012 Olympic Games would have provided amble public works opportunities. Works schemes have a finite life, so the Government has lit an unemployment timebomb set to explode down the line, when millions are suddenly without work.
It is often the case that in times of stress and testing the true messages of the respective parties is forced out. Labour has resisted temptation long enough but now has lurched back to its 1970s past; high taxes, big debt, high unemployment. Community and religious leaders were rightly outraged by the Government's apparent message to consumers to; spend, spend, spend, on credit. What madness at a time of market contraction, to encourage more of the cause that led us here. Clear water has also been opened up between Labour and the Conservatives, with the later promising immediate tax relief for the poorest, and an end to massive borrowing; whilst Labour only commits to tax relief after 2010 and continues its borrowing binge.
The next sixteen months up leading up to May 5th 2010 shall be the most revealing. Labour, struggling to honour its many commitments at home an abroad will be forced to borrow ever greater and riskier amounts, forcing taxes sky high. Brown’s economic scam has been found out, like the desperate gambler he seeks to cover his addiction by borrowing more; but the game’s up and we want our money back.
----------------------------------------
Councillor Ashley Bowes
Pyrford
T: 01483 768 257
| 
Blog RSS feed
