Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
VAT ABOUT THE OTHER TAXES?
May promises not to increase levy on sales Refuses to rule out income tax or NI hikes
Tories are becoming the party of higher taxes and price rises
JOHN PUGH LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MP
THERESA May has refused to rule out raising income tax and national insurance. Vowing not to lift VAT – currently 20% – the PM fuelled fears of a raid on workers’ pay packets by failing to offer guarantees on the other two parts of the “tax triple lock”. In her first major TV grilling of the election campaign, she told the BBC: “We have absolutely no plans to increase the level of tax, but I’m also clear I don’t want to make specific proposals on taxes unless I’m absolutely sure I can deliver on those.” But questioned shortly after by ITV, Mrs May said: “We won’t be increasing VAT.” Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry warned: “She’s saying she has ‘no plans’ to raise income tax on middle incomes and lower incomes. “Now that to us is code, because that’s the code the Tories used before the first time they came in when they then went ahead and increased VAT. So, she has ruled out increasing VAT, but she is not ruling out raising taxes for lower and middle-income people.” Lib Dem MP John Pugh said: “The Tories used to be the low-tax party, now they’re becoming the party of higher taxes, lower growth and price rises.” May also refused to guarantee the pensions triple lock would stay, saying only that pensions would continue to rise. The current system sees them go up by inflation, earnings or 2.5%, whichever is highest. Labour has pledged to retain the triple lock, but the PM said: “Under a Conservative government, the state pension will still go up every year of the next Parliament. Exactly how we calculate that increase will be for the manifesto.” And she brushed off the revelation nurses are having to use foodbanks, telling the BBC’S Andrew Marr: “There are many complex reasons why people go to foodbanks.” Labour’s Ian Lavery blasted her for not having the “decency, courtesy or respect” to condemn “the fact nurses, heroes of the NHS, use foodbanks to feed themselves”. Asked about her repeated refusal to agree to TV debates, May told ITV: “There isn’t going to be any change.”
WORKING families, pensioners and public services would be the big losers if Theresa May tricked her way back into Downing Street with an enhanced majority.
The slippery, power thirsty Tory leader’s inability to answer a direct question on tax with a straight answer should set alarm bells ringing. Dodging questions with weasel words and a dishonest “no plans” formula will not do. Remember, she said she had “no plans” to call a snap election. Then called a snap election. Remember, too, that every pound of the £3billion Tories claim would be “saved” on state pensions by 2027 is a pound Mrs May would deny legions of elderly people. Glimpses of Mrs May explain why she is chickening out of TV debates with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. He is incapable of telling a lie and sometimes we wonder if she is a stranger to the truth. Mrs May’s integrity deserves to be an issue in a shameful election called solely for Tory party gain.