Some welcome tax cuts but beware hidden nasties

The TaxPayers' Alliance today said Chancellor George Osborne has offered tax cuts in his second Budget but could have done more to ease the burden on businesses and families.

Matthew Sinclair, Director, The TaxPayers' Alliance, said:

"Taxpayers will appreciate a cut in Fuel Duty that will be a welcome relief from crippling motoring taxes. Increasing the personal allowance will take lots more people out of tax and thankfully middle class families aren't going to pay the price by being dragged into the higher rate as they were with earlier increases. The freeze in Air Passenger Duty is a good start, though it comes ahead of a major EU tax hike on flights. Unfortunately the rhetoric about simplifying taxes wasn’t matched in the reality of the Chancellor’s policies and there were too many fiddly little changes that will create new loopholes and make tax harder to understand. In order to pay for it all, we got a major tax hike that will increase electricity prices, a new tax on the North Sea that will increase our dependence on foreign oil and a pledge to tackle avoidance. The Government need to do more to ease the burden on ordinary families and businesses by cutting back on those budgets that are rapidly rising and scrapping wasteful projects."

Anthony J. Evans, Commissioner, 2020 Tax Commission, said:

“This was a mixed bag of a Budget. There are some welcome measures to allow businesses to get on and to relieve the burden on low-earners, but the entire tax system remains far too complicated. Simplifying taxation is the main way the Chancellor can help families and businesses, and tackle avoidance all in one go. Abolishing reliefs and reducing the tax code by 100 pages is a small but welcome step in the right direction but there is still a long, long way to go. Hard working taxpayers and businesses trying to lead the recovery have the right to understand their tax obligations and this Budget hasn’t fully delivered on that.”

To view the full press release, please click here