[Mirror] Howard: I hate taxes as much as Al Capone
MICHAEL Howard was branded unfit to be Prime Minister yesterday after likening his tax views to mobster Al Capone's.
The murderous US gangster was jailed for tax evasion.
But Mr Howard bragged at a reception for 500 Tory-backing moneymen: "It's 76 years to the day that Al Capone died - and we all hate taxes as much as Al Capone did."
Although his audience cheered, Labour chiefs were stunned at the outburst.
[Scotsman] Tories' £4bn Tax Cuts Promise 'Just A Down-Payment'
A Conservative Government would aim to cut taxes beyond the £4 billion promised by leader Michael Howard if the party wins the up-coming election, shadow cabinet minister John Redwood said today.
Speaking on Channel 4’s Morgan and Platell programme, Mr Redwood claimed that the Conservatives were effectively offering voters a tax package worth a total of £12 billion more than Labour’s, because Chancellor Gordon Brown would have to raise taxes following the election to fill an £8 billion hole in Treasury coffers.
[Times] Tories' tax bomb sparks poll row
AN ELECTION row over tax and spending broke out last night as Labour seized on a “gaffe” by a senior Tory who said the party’s promised £4 billion of tax cuts were merely a “downpayment” and there would be more to come.
John Redwood, a member of the shadow cabinet, appeared to breach Michael Howard’s cautious refusal to promise big tax cuts by saying that the Conservatives would aim to reduce taxes much further. He also claimed that, if elected, the Tories’ first budget would make voters £12 billion better off than under Labour.
[Times] Brown pressed to ease burden of stamp duty
Pressure grew on Gordon Brown to ease the burden on first-time home-buyers yesterday as petitioners urged him to reform stamp duty in the Budget.
Building society chiefs presented the Treasury with a list of 22,000 signatures calling on the Chancellor to raise the threshold at which stamp duty is levied.
The tax is charged on all residential sales above £60,000, a level that has not changed since 1993 despite soaring house price inflation.
[FT] Chancellor keeps one eye on the ballot box
In his ninth Budget since Labour came to power in 1997, Brown is expected to put pensioners, parents and children at centre stage.
There is widespread spread speculation that there is a £12.5bn black hole in the public finances and that consequently Labour will have to raise taxes if it wins the election
“Every general election year since 1979 voters have been offered a package of sweeteners in the final Budget of the parliament,” says Aidan O’Carroll, head of tax at accountants Ernst & Young. “In many cases taxes were increased soon after the general election result.