Watch: Hughes attacks Tory right on VAT & CGT


7:40 pm - June 15th 2010

by Sunny Hundal    


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“I hope we don’t get a VAT rise because it is the most regressive form of tax. It penalises the poor,” says Simon Hughes today in a warning-shot to the Conservative led coalition.

“I hope that chancellor, together with my colleagues in the treasury, find a way that is fair so the poor, the less well-off, don’t suffer and the people with broader shoulders carry the burden,” he adds.

The Social Liberal Forum published an open letter to Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander this week, saying the budget needs to, “spells out an agenda not only for our straitened financial circumstances but for fairness as well.”

Their call was then taken up by three senior Libdems.

In an interview with the Daily Politics show today Simon Hughes repeated his call and acknowledged that the “Tory right” in the form of MPs like John Redwood were campaigning to keep Capital Gains Tax down and increase VAT instead.

Watch the video

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. Nick

Thing is VAT is how all those wonderfully social democratic countries in Scandinavia balance their budgets. And they are pretty easy going (especially the Swedes) on CGT. So if you are aiming for workeable social democracy, that is probably the direction the tax system is going to go.

2. Mr S. Pill

@1 don’t forget huge (by comparison to UK) income tax on the uber-rich.

VAT was always the Tories favourite tax, funnily enough I don’t reckon they’ll be putting the top rate of IT up to 60%+ will they?

3. Yurrzem!

Its been posted here previously, VAT can be progressive if its redistributive. However we only hear about bashing those on benefits from the LibCons so far.

As Mr S Pill says, lets see what happens to those taxes that specifically effect the rich. That will be telling.


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Paul Sandars

    RT @libcon: Watch: Simon Hughes attacks Tory-right on VAT & CGT http://bit.ly/aP31Pk

  2. Jenni Jackson

    RT @libcon: Watch: Simon Hughes attacks Tory right on VAT & CGT http://bit.ly/aP31Pk

  3. Jonathan Davies

    RT @libcon Watch: Simon Hughes attacks Tory-right on VAT & CGT http://bit.ly/aP31Pk #libdems #ukpolitics #austerity

  4. James Graham

    RT @libcon: Watch: Simon Hughes attacks Tory-right on VAT & CGT http://bit.ly/aP31Pk

  5. sunny hundal

    RT @libcon: Watch: Simon Hughes attacks Tory-right on VAT & CGT http://bit.ly/aP31Pk

  6. Nadia

    RT @libcon: Watch: Simon Hughes attacks Tory-right on VAT & CGT http://bit.ly/aP31Pk

  7. Liberal Conspiracy

    Watch: Simon Hughes attacks Tory-right on VAT & CGT http://bit.ly/aP31Pk

  8. One Society campaign

    RT @libcon: Watch: Simon Hughes attacks Tory-right on VAT & CGT http://bit.ly/aP31Pk





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