David Cameron has ruled out any significant tax cuts at the March budget, after telling a Sunday
newspaper that the government’s emphasis will remain on cutting the UK’s budget deficit.
Shortly after the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government took power in May last year,
their emergency budget set out a 5-year plan to work towards eliminating the nation’s budget
deficit.
This year has already seen a VAT increase, and April will see a new increase in payroll taxation
coming into effect – however some members within the Conservative party have voiced concerns
that he has not made a public commitment to cut tax back in future.
At the weekend, David Cameron told the Sunday Telegraph, “I would love to see tax reductions. I’m
a tax cutting Tory and I believe in tax cuts, but when you’re borrowing 11 per cent of your GDP, it’s
not possible to make significant net tax cuts. It just isn’t.”
He added: “It’s no good saying we’re going to deal with the deficit by cutting spending, but then
we’re going to make things worse again by cutting taxes. I’m afraid it doesn’t add up.”
London Mayor Boris Johnson has gone on record as calling for next month’s budget to be used as a
forum to outline a clear “direction of travel” and to reassure the public on how taxes will be reduced
over the course of the current parliamentary term.
