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07/09/2011
Osborne Faces Calls To Scrap 50% Rate
Some of the UK's leading economic experts have urged Chancellor George Osborne to scrap the high 50p-in-the-pound tax rate.
In a letter to The Financial Times today they said punishing those earning more than £150,000 is "doing lasting damage" and pushing business and growth to other rival countries.
It should be dropped "at the earliest opportunity" the economists said.
The group includes Cambridge University Professor Bob Rowthorn and former members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee DeAnne Julius and Sushil Wadhwani.
The top academics are arguing for the tax cut, despite it being backed by large numbers of Britons.
"It gives the UK one of the highest personal tax regimes in the industrialised world, making it less competitive internationally and making us less attractive as a destination for both foreign investment and talented workers," the letter said, today.
In response, the Chancellor has asked the Inland Revenue to check whether or not the rate is an effective means of raising tax revenue.
But any change would fly in the face of both public opinion and the trade unions who have said the call to axe the 50p rate is "monstrously unfair" while spending cuts bite on the ordinary citizen.
(BMcC/GK)
In a letter to The Financial Times today they said punishing those earning more than £150,000 is "doing lasting damage" and pushing business and growth to other rival countries.
It should be dropped "at the earliest opportunity" the economists said.
The group includes Cambridge University Professor Bob Rowthorn and former members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee DeAnne Julius and Sushil Wadhwani.
The top academics are arguing for the tax cut, despite it being backed by large numbers of Britons.
"It gives the UK one of the highest personal tax regimes in the industrialised world, making it less competitive internationally and making us less attractive as a destination for both foreign investment and talented workers," the letter said, today.
In response, the Chancellor has asked the Inland Revenue to check whether or not the rate is an effective means of raising tax revenue.
But any change would fly in the face of both public opinion and the trade unions who have said the call to axe the 50p rate is "monstrously unfair" while spending cuts bite on the ordinary citizen.
(BMcC/GK)
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