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Poll finds 67% think Tories would increase taxes

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19th Apr 2005
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Nearly seven out of ten people think a Conservative government would increase taxes, according to a new poll for the Financial Times.

MORI asked people last weekend which of the two main parties would be most effective in getting good value for the public money it spends.

"Some 41% of those polled said Labour would be the most effective against 30% who chose the Conservatives," the paper reported.

But the public "still believes Labour is more likely to put up taxes than the Conservatives", it added.

"Four out of five of those asked said they believed Labour would increase taxes after the election while 67% said they believed the Tories would."

The Conservatives have promised £4bn of tax cuts, including a £1.3bn cut in council tax for pensioners, additional tax relief of £1.7bn for pension contributions, and a further £1bn to be announced.

The FT report concluded that Michael Howard is "failing to convince voters that the Conservatives are a low tax party which would spend public money more effectively than Labour".

Some Conservative candidates are reported to have pressed for a "more robust" stance on tax cuts. The FT said David Mellor, the former Conservative cabinet minister, described the current £4bn package of cuts as "pathetic".

Conservative party co-chairman Liam Fox, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that the party would "love" to have made greater reductions in taxation but "Gordon Brown would leave us a massive hole in the public finances, which we think it's responsible to fill".

He added that Michael Howard "will not promise things that he cannot deliver".

Andrew Goodall
Editor, TaxZone

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