George Osborne Must Declare 'War On Waste' at Budget

The Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) has called for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, to cut waste and taxes in next week’s budget. The group says that “promises of help after 2015 will not be enough”.

The TPA says the Chancellor must: declare a ‘war on waste’ by cutting unnecessary spending, cut taxes and reform the tax system. Wednesday’s budget will be the government’s penultimate of it’s 5-year term, and made even more important because changes to next year’s budget are unlikely to be in effect on General Election day.

Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TPA, said: “The Chancellor is in the last chance saloon when it comes to helping taxpayers before the next election. If he wants to ease the burden on family finances and secure economic growth then he has to cut waste and cut taxes in this Budget. Promises of help after 2015 will not be enough – he must take this opportunity now to deliver a Budget for taxpayers.”

The TPA have also put in a budget submission, it can be found in full here, but a summary is below:

Waste

•             Public sector pay and pension reform including an end to the gap between public and private sector pay.

•             An end to the NHS ring-fence with a reduction in NHS spending in line with other departments.

•             Scrap the HS2 white elephant and use some of the money saved for better value rail and road projects.

Taxes

•             Cut both employer’s and employee’s National Insurance to 11 per cent.

•             Abolish the alcohol duty escalator.

•             Cut the main rate of Corporation Tax to 20 per cent in 2014 instead of 2015.

•             Cut Fuel Duty by 5p per litre.

•             Freeze the Carbon Price Floor at 2014 levels.

•             Cut Stamp Duty Land Tax using at least one of the three options proposed in our paper Stamp Duty – a counterproductive tax.

Reform

•             Extend the use of dynamic modelling used in last year’s Autumn Statement to all fiscal policy announcements. Dynamic analysis using the HMRC CGE model should be required for all fiscal policy changes announced by the Government.

•             Rename National Insurance to properly reflect its true function as a parallel system of income tax on employment earnings.

•             Set about departmental reform by abolishing the Department for Culture, Media and Sport along with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, transferring some responsibilities such as museums, universities and training to other departments.