Here are some questions that won’t be included in this year’s big quiz. When was the last time a Conservative minister looked to the horizon and articulated his beliefs beyond his “abilities” and “desires”?
These are important qualities. But Rishi Sunak, like the captain of the Titanic, steadied the ship and last year announced that his vision for this country was to embrace ever-shrinking household budgets to fund an ever-expanding society. He just appealed to us. state.
Once a piece of prosperity is opened up, suspicion, taxation, and regulation usually quickly follow. Consider, for example, the government’s recent treatment of the oil and gas industry and supermarkets.
By the next general election, taxes will reach approximately 37 percent of national income, a level that has not been sustainable since the war. Red tape is stifling entrepreneurship, our abject dedication to the NHS is destroying the economy, welfare spending is skyrocketing and mass immigration is being used to cover it up. Some 13 years of Conservative rule left behind social decline and economic collapse.
No wonder the Prime Minister is said to be considering major tax cuts in his spring budget. The Conservatives may be trailing in the polls, but they can avoid a crushing defeat like 1997. Mr Sunak could carve clear blue waters with a Labor party whose Green Prosperity Plan has been diluted to embarrassingly thin porridge and which appears desperately trying to avoid tough decisions on tax and spending.
Once again, the abolition of inheritance tax (IHT) is said to be under consideration. There are reasons to be skeptical. It was not included in the King’s Speech, it may not be able to pass Parliament before the next election, and a Labor government will probably reverse the decision on day one. Abolishing the levy would elicit irreverence from the usual suspects who see tax cuts as a “gift” and delight in insulting the Prime Minister as “out of line”.
But it could shore up some votes that would otherwise be lost. “Death taxes” are highly unpopular, as frozen thresholds and soaring property prices conspire to force middle-class families to pay death taxes just because they own a home. , this hatred will become even stronger.
But delivering those votes will take more than promises. Despite Cameron and Chancellor Osborne’s big pledge to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1m, the inheritance tax threshold has remained unchanged at £325,000 since 2009, and the last Labor government This standard value has been raised every year. If the Conservatives want to take advantage of the cuts, they need to do so as soon as possible.
It has long been assumed that Britons misunderstand IHT. They refused, believing that they would be paid posthumously. But in a development that shows the public has a more rational view of taxes than most politicians, recent polls show that even when voters are briefed on the threshold, they still oppose it. It is shown that There is a strong feeling that anything earned and taxed during your lifetime should not be taxed again when you die. Parents should be able to help their children with what is left over after funding their own social care (another slow-motion disaster that the Conservatives have failed to solve).
The UK has an unusually high IHT rate of 40%, yet it only generates an annual income of £7 billion, which is less than 1% of government revenue. Given that the levy reduces savings, abolishing the levy could increase investment and soften the blow to the exchequer.
One reason the Conservative Party has remained in power for nearly two-thirds of the past century is its relentless attacks on unpopular leaders. But since Boris Johnson was elected with an 80-seat majority in 2019, he has already crossed that line twice. We have no choice but to go into the next election with a bold and clear vision to get Conservative voters to the polls. Set up a booth when they could be at home.
If this is interpreted to mean that he supports free markets, aims to cut taxes, and is skeptical about the role of the state, then it would be unreasonable to describe the Sunak government as “conservative.” Rather, they are taking a lead from Scandinavian social democracies, although even Sweden and Norway have abolished inheritance taxes since the turn of the century.
IHT is anti-family and anti-prosperity. Insofar as the Conservative Party has a guiding philosophy, this is definitely not it.