In 1988, the tax bracket of 40p was created to be applied only to the highest 5 percent of earners.
After years of threshold freezes it transformed from a tax for the wealthy to a fiscal tool that the Treasury can use to tax middle-income households.
Only 1.35 million people were affected by the 40p rate in that first year.
Rishi Sunak claimed to be a low income Chancellor. He is stealing the votes of Tory bedrock voters, however.
A staggering 6.9 million people will pay it by the year 2022. By 2024, it will be seven million – NHS staff, teachers, police officers and tradesmen among them.
This is all under the Tory government.
Rishi Sunak claimed to be a low income Chancellor. Yet he is stealthily picking the pockets of bedrock Tory voters – while simultaneously hitting them with a stinging national insurance rise.
In this cost of living crunch, struggling families can’t get by on his promises of jam tomorrow. It is time to act now in concert for relief.
It means that taxes are reduced, thresholds raised, and people can keep more of what they own.
It is also important that any upcoming corporation tax increases be canceled, in order to allow business to rebound from the Covid troubles.
The Government at crossroads. The Government can still win the next election if they return to fundamental Tory principles.
Long periods of opposition are possible if the government continues to try and keep up with the economy.
The bank of wokery
Does it make sense for high-street bankers to participate in the culture wars against the other banks? It seems that the Halifax agrees.
As part of a half-baked ‘inclusivity’ initiative, it is providing badges for staff showing their preferred pronouns – such as he/him, she/her or they/them.
The stated aim is to avoid ‘accidental misgendering’. And if clients don’t like it, a spokesman says, they are welcome to take their business elsewhere.
The bank claims it’s trying to ‘open the conversation around gender identity’. In fact, it only wants to converse if you agree with its ‘values’. You can push on if you don’t agree.
Hardly a great example of inclusivity – or indeed customer service.
It’s actually the kind of passive-aggressive bullying that has become synonymous with extreme identity politics. It’s what we expect from transactivists. However, what about banks?
Who wants to have a conversation about gender fluidity when all they’re trying to do is pay in a cheque or arrange a mortgage?
And what about staff who don’t want their personal pronoun to be a matter of public debate? They will be comfortable with refusing to wear a badge. Are they required to undergo inclusivity training
One thing is certain, if the Halifax keeps patronising its customers in this insulting way, it won’t need to encourage them to go elsewhere. They’ll be leaving voluntarily – in their droves.
A pernicious drug
Civitas, a respected think tank found that six million more people would use cannabis if legalization were implemented.
It also says 500,000 children are already users, and far from backing decriminalisation, six in ten parents want tougher police action against the drug – with seven in ten supporting stop-and-search tactics.
A separate report from a London university shows that teenagers are three times more likely to become addicted than adults.
This and many other facts are overwhelming. Cannabis can be a deadly drug and ruin young lives.
For all of the ridicule that Sadiq Khan (London Mayor) has displayed in his support for law changes, legalization will only make a terrible situation even worse.