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  1. Politics
13 February 2013

PMQs review: Cameron’s 50p tax problem hasn’t gone away

The PM's decision to cut taxes for the highest earners left him vulnerable to Miliband's Reagan-style attack over living standards.

By George Eaton

It was Ronald Reagan who Ed Miliband channelled at today’s PMQs as he asked his own version of the US President’s famous question to Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential debate: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” 

After today’s Resolution Foundation report on “Squeezed Britain” warned that household incomes will not return to pre-recession levels until 2023, Miliband asked David Cameron: “At the end of the parliament, will living standards be higher or lower than they were at the beginning?” 

Understandably reluctant to reply “no”, Cameron pointed to the action the coalition had taken to protect living standards, including the rise in the personal allowance and the council tax freeze. But Miliband swiftly countered that the biggest tax cut of all was for those earning over a million pounds a year, who would see their income tax bill fall by more than £100,000 from this April. What made the PM think that those earning £20,000 a week needed “extra help to keep the wolf from the door”, he asked.

It was a reminder of why the decision to scrap the 50p rate tax was so politically disastrous for the Tories; it confirmed their status as the party of the rich and overshadowed the Budget’s more popular measures. Cameron may contend that the 50p rate was a revenue loser for the Treasury but to most voters that sounds like an argument for cracking down on avoidance, not for cutting taxes. Later asked by Labour MP Stephen Pound whether he would personally benefit from the move, Cameron replied evasively that he would “pay his taxes”. Expect Labour to take every opportunity to ask this question before the start of the new tax year on 6 April. 

But Cameron gained the upper hand when he turned his fire on Miliband. Referencing the “major speech” that the Labour leader will give on the economy tomorrow, he mockingly quoted reports that “it won’t have any new policies in it”. Jon Cruddas had said that “simply opposing the cuts without an alternative is no good”, the PM went on to note. “That is right, the whole frontbench opposite is no good.” 

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It was punchy stuff but Cameron’s decision to cut the 50p rate, combined with the suspicion that he will benefit from the move, means he remains vulnerable on the subject of living standards. With this in mind, Tory MP Robert Halfon has imaginatively called for the reintroduction of the 10p rate, to prove that his party believes in “tax cuts for the many, not just for the few”, while simultaneously reminding voters of a Labour error. 

So it was notable that Cameron remarked towards the end of the session, “we won’t forget the abolition of the 10p tax rate”. Was this is a hint of action to come in the Budget? Almost certainly not (the fiscally conservative Osborne wouldn’t allow it), but it would be exactly the kind of “trump card” that Tory MPs have been urging the Chancellor to play. 

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