IFS: Tory tax reforms would benefit rich not poor

Thursday, 19, Oct 2006 12:00

Conservative proposals to introduce a £21 billion package of tax reforms would benefit the rich more than the poor, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned.

A Tory policy group today recommended a radical overhaul of the tax system based on slashing personal and corporate taxes, and scrapping stamp duty on shares and inheritance tax.

"It [the tax reform commission report] said it wants to reward work without spending money on benefits – this would be likely to hit the poor," deputy director Carl Emmerson told politics.co.uk.

It was a radical package, he said, arguing it was "as big as everything Gordon Brown has announced in the past nine years".

But he stressed it would be risky to implement without a clearer idea of where the money would come from.

In particular, policy makers needed to consider what was affordable and the exact level of environmental tax.