Since the coalition came to power in 2010, George Osborne has introduced 24 tax rises.
Since the coalition came to power in 2010 George Osborne has brought in 24 tax increases. While millionaires have been quids in with a cut to the top rate of tax, millions of ordinary people have been hit by Osborne’s tax increases.
Giving with one hand while taking away much more with the other, as Labour shadow chief secretary to the treasury Chris Leslie MP put it.
Here is the full list of Osborne’s tax increases since 2010. So much for low tax Conservatism.
1. VAT increased – to 20 per cent from 2011
2. Income Tax age-related allowances frozen and eligibility restricted (“Granny Tax”) from 2013-14
3. Income Tax higher rate threshold cut to £42,475 in 2011-12
4. Higher Income Child Benefit Charge introduced 2013
5. National Insurance Contributions rates, limits and thresholds increased in line with CPI rather than RPI from 2012-13
6. Income Tax higher rate threshold frozen at £42,475 in 2012-13
7. Insurance premium tax increased – from 2011
8. Capital Gains Tax increased – to 28 per cent for higher rate taxpayers from June 2010
9. New Beer Duty introduced on high strength beers from 2011
10. Duty on hand-rolling tobacco increased by an additional 10 per cent from 2011-12
11. ISA subscription limit uprated in line with CPI rather than RPI from 2012-13
12. National Insurance Contributions changes to contracting-out rebates from 2012-13
13. Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount frozen, 2012-13
14. Stamp Duty Land Tax increase to 7 per cent on properties over £2 million from 2012-13
15. VAT increases on a range of items, including caravans, sports drinks, and listed buildings from 2012
16. Duty on tobacco increased by RPI + 5 per cent in 2012
17. Income Tax higher rate threshold cut to £41,450 in 2013-14
18. Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount increased in line with CPI rather than RPI from 2013-14
19. Income Tax cap on reliefs introduced from 2013-14
20. Pension tax relief restricted from 2014-15 21.
21. Income Tax higher rate threshold Increase capped at 1 per cent in 2014-15 and 2015-16
22. Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount increase capped at 1 per cent, 2014-15 and 2015-16
23. Inheritance Tax threshold frozen in 2015-16
24. National Insurance Contributions ending of contracting-out rebates from 2016-17
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5 Responses to “24 Tory tax rises under George Osborne”
Sparky
I could compile a list 100 items long of tax rises under Labour. And that was during a boom period. Socialists spend other people’s money. Conservatives clear up the mess. Same as 1979.
GO
I feel like I’m reading the Daily Mail. Haven’t we on the left spent the past four years arguing that tax rises, and especially tax rises on higher earners, are the right sort of austerity measure – enabling us to close the deficit without damaging public services or making the poor poorer?
At least half of the tax rises you list fall squarely on the shoulders of higher income households (e.g. those relating to capital gains, the 40p threshold, stamp duty, and inheritance tax) . Most of the others look broadly progressive in the way that direct taxes tend always to be more progressive than indirect taxes (the VAT rise being the obvious exception).
The ‘taking away’ that has been done, and that has left ‘millions of ordinary people’ worse off, has overwhelmingly been done in the form of cuts to benefits, tax credits and public sector wages – not tax rises.
It seems to me that you are feeding various pernicious right-wing narratives here: e.g. the narrative that things like the falling 40p threshold are harming ‘ordinary families’, the narrative that tax rises are a Bad Thing and tax cuts a Good Thing (so that we had better tackle the deficit mostly through spending cuts), the narrative that benefits and tax credits are all about ‘scroungers’, while taxes are what matter to ‘hard working families’.
IMHO you have scored an own goal here.
Cole
Ah, the usual ‘whatabouterry’, and boring cliches. So let’s see your list.
Chris
“millions of ordinary people have been hit by Osborne’s tax increases.” – yet you list amongst these tax rises, the pension tax relief restriction 2014-15. Can you tell me what “ordinary person” is affected by a reduction in the ANNUAL pension contribution limit to £40,000??!? Or perhaps the restriction of child benefit to people earning over £50,000 per year. Or perhaps the ordinary person affected by the rise in stamp duty on their purchase of a £2 MILLION home?!? Are you just scraping the barrel for a headline here or pandering to the fact that the average labour voter won’t bother looking at the details.
Cole
Er, the text says ‘here is a full list of Osborne’s tax increases since 2010’. That’s what it is. Most hit ‘ordinary people’, a few impact only richer ones (who’ve had sone nice tax reductions too, this being a Conservative government).