Shadow Chancellor confirms Labour would not raise income tax at the next election
Speaking to BBC One’s “Andrew Marr Show” this morning, shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that Labour had no plans to raise income tax following the next election.
“We have no plans whatsoever, we’re not even looking at income tax”, Reeves said, “what we are looking at is people who get their incomes not from going out to work and doing a hard day’s work, but people who get their incomes from stocks and shares and dividends and who have a portfolio of buy to let properties”.
She criticised the government’s increase in National Insurance on the grounds that it “asks nothing from people who get their income in those ways.”
Reeves underlined that her party’s priorities are: “the cost-of-living price crisis, helping businesses who have had a torrid 18 months, and addressing some of the long-term challenges that we face with the climate crisis, but also our plans to buy, make and sell more in Britain”.
Reeves also told Marr that Labour will call for an end to VAT on energy bills until next spring to help “ease pressure” on families struggling with rising costs. She added: “This would cost £1 billion for six months and make a real difference for families and pensioners”.
