Government slammed for 'economic vandalism'

Government slammed for 'economic vandalism'




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Last night at the annual CBI dinner, outgoing president of the business lobby organisation, Martin Broughton, accused the Government of “economic vandalism” over the new 50p income tax rate.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown also attended the dinner, giving a keynote speech after Mr Broughton condemned Labour for using the tax rise to grab headlines and divert attention away from overly optimistic growth predictions and the escalating issue of public debt.

Mr Broughton stated: “The use of heroic growth assumptions, together with a timetable extended to 2018, amounted to a serious failure to address the deficit in a way which gives confidence to buyers of our public debt. To then try and divert media attention from this failure by tearing up the manifesto commitment to the country’s entrepreneurial class – the major job creators – was nothing short of economic vandalism.”

Mr Brown attempted to defend the tax rise, saying to CBI members: “I do not like doing it as much as you will not like the measure.” He went on to say that in the face of huge failures in the financial sector, “we have a duty to act.”

However, Mr Broughton, and many other business leaders, have questioned whether the tax take will amount to much as wealth creators leave the

UK

or find ways to dodge the new 50p rate, which will apply to earnings of more than £150,000 as of April 2010.  

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