Outgoing CBI chief slams government for a lack of growth strategy

[LadyBlaBlah]

fatal flaw in Georgie's strategy

Apparently there was supposed to be a white paper published for growth last October and................well, we are still waiting. So come on you Tories, what exactly is your growth strategy?

The dogs are starting to fight amongst themselves. Maybe gideon is not throwing the CBI enough gold plated bones.

This is a serious issue.

Whilst there are welcome signs (cutting corporation tax, no NI for some startups, etc) - the elephant remains in the room.

The 50p top rate of income tax has to be repealed as a matter of urgency. We need more tax revenues, and as was shown so well by Nigel Lawson in the 1980s, cutting the top rate of income tax to 40p brings in much more income tax revenue.

There is no greater imperative in tackling the twin evils of the deficit and lacklustre growth than slashing the 50p top rate.

Unfortunately, it seems like the government just don't have the political will.

Yes tax cuts for the most well off will send a clear message that "we are all in this together".

If the very rich did not indulge in tax avoidance/evasion then we may not need the 50p tax band although it has a symbolic significance in showing the well off are paying their share.

LFN- I don't think that cutting the top rate of income tax would bring in extra revenue and would almost certainly reduce revenue which with a deficit the size of ours we can ill-afford. Also although having a top rate of income tax higher than our competitors is undesirable I don't think it will be a barrier to growth.

newwave - Richard Lambert has never been a friend of the current government. When he was editor of the FT, he hired Ed Balls as his chief leader writer, and the FT backed Labour in most general elections under his editorship.

The FT is a filthy Labour rag. It belongs with the Guardian, Mirror, and BBC.

Thankfully, most City types are switching to the WSJ Europe edition and City AM in droves.

huddspur Why did precisely the opposite occur following Lawson's 1988 budget then?

The Laffer curve is alive and well. It should be heeded.

exexpat, thanks for the info.

We can't afford "symbolic" measures, or fine words about how the 50p tax rate is necessary for "fairness".

We need to maximise our tax revenue. The way to do that is to scrap the top rate of 50p, and get closer to the optimal Laffer value (which I read somewhere was conjectured to be 38%, but can't remember where).

The Guardian and the observer are the best papers in the UK along with the Independent being a close second.

The Sun and Torygraph are toilet paper.

We could maximise our tax revenues if the rich would stop avoiding them.

Ashcroft, Green and Vodaphone anyone.

Ending the top rate of tax would send a message that strikes and industrial action in persuit of pay rises is ok because we can, it seems indulge the well off

LFN- The difference between now and then was that income tax rate was 60% in 1988 whilst now it is 50%, so although the tax yield increased then it wouldn't now as the income tax rate isn't above the maximum yield rate at 50%

I think the Sunday Times is the best newspaper, actually, though I don't like the broadsheet format.

I used to like the Economist until its pro-EU agenda got too much. Bagehot actually had the temerity to entitle a sarcy column "They told you so" urging Tory eurosceptics not to be so gleeful that they were right (and incidentally, the Economist totally wrong) about the feasibility of the single currency.

Unfortunately, although the Times is fine for "intellectual Toryism" it won't set voter's hearts on fire. Cameron needs to listen occasionally to the Mail and Sun as well as the Times.

The Telegraph has become a parody of itself. I don't think anyone cares about its columnists any more - though, as it showed with expenses, it is still adept at getting scoops.

The biggest joke paper of all is surely the Mirror.

huddspur Where is your evidence that 50% is the optimal Laffer value?

Admittedly, I can't find my evidence that 38% is the optimal value right now - I have to go to sleep soon, but will try to dig up the study tomorrow.

We could maximise our tax revenues if the rich would stop avoiding them.

Ashcroft, Green and Vodaphone anyone.

Ending the top rate of tax would send a message that strikes and industrial action in persuit of pay rises is ok because we can, it seems indulge the well off

The best newspapers are:
The Times
The Telegraph
The Guardian
The Independent

Everything else varies from poor dreadful and you'd be be better saving your money and using the bbc website

This article suggests the optimal rate is between 32% and 35%

www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W5H-45FY39K-1H&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F1996&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=10b9ade11102469ad94eb5a6bf791a18&searchtype=a

though admittedly there are others with much higher conjectured optimal rates.

LFN, no the biggest joke is the Sun along with the Star and Sport all horrible downmarket garbage.

I think that the optimal laffer value is in the mid 50s isn't it but I do have a moral objection to a tax rate higher than 50% so I wouldn't like to see it higher than 50 nor do I want to see it lowered when we have a deficit that is 12% of GDP.

Has everybody forgotten the Daily Mail?

The only paper that progressives fear, as it exposes their chicanery.