Boris Johnson’s proposed income tax cut for those earning over £50,000 is a stinker for the average Brit
Boris bungle
BORIS Johnson’s first big policy announcement is a stinker.
We’re all for tax cuts . . . Tories should be tax cutters, above all. But what possessed Boris to think his priority as Prime Minister should be those earning £50,000-plus a year?
These aren’t the “just about managings” Theresa May rightly chose to champion (before failing to do so). They’re mostly the “managing pretty nicelies”, especially outside London.
Tax cuts should ideally be across the board. Failing that, the lowest-paid must be first to benefit.
We get that the higher rate now hits too many in ordinary jobs who don’t feel remotely rich. But the average UK salary is still only £29,000. Too many are on near-poverty wages far below that.
Where’s their Boris bung?
And how does focusing on higher earners look politically?
“Old Etonian toff Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson comes to power and immediately gives the rich a tax break.”
He’s writing Corbyn’s script for him.
Blame Beeb
THERE is no point in the BBC blaming the Government for the outrageous decision to strip many OAPs of the free TV licence.
The bloated corporation could avoid it. By slashing its ridiculous 18,200-strong headcount — and the monstrous salaries lavished on “stars” and executives.
By torching the culture of greed and waste which saw 2,700 staff get ten per cent pay rises.
By taming its news website, busily destroying local papers.
By sticking to its public service remit, not competing with commercial broadcasters while also enjoying a £4billion injection from the public.
The BBC was meant to fund free licences for over-75s as part of its budget settlement in 2015. We simply don’t buy its spin that it would have to scrap BBC2, BBC4, BBC Scotland, News Channel and Radio 5 Live to do so.
And it has now shot itself in the head.
Younger viewers increasingly watch Netflix or YouTube and need no licence. Older ones may abandon the BBC too if suddenly forced to pay £150 for it.
The licence fee’s days are numbered and rightly so.
MOST READ IN COMMENT
Backstop bilge
HOW can the EU insist the withdrawal deal is set in stone when it already has a tech solution for the Irish border “problem”?
Eurocrats admit their IT systems will keep it open in the event of No Deal and “can be implemented swiftly”.
Yet Michel Barnier sticks to his script that the backstop — “to avoid a hard border” — cannot be changed.
Not only can it be, it HAS to be.
The deal he made with Theresa May, cynically hoping to trap us forever in the EU’s customs union, is dead.
