Do you believe a Conservative government would raise overall taxation?
 

The news last night shared some opinion poll statistics, one of which concerned the Conservatives and taxation. I just wondered if they'd got it wrong somehow.

If you look at the trends over successive governments there's not a lot in it.The Tories tend to tax SLIGHTLY less and Labour SLIGHTLY more.However a strong economy more than makes up for any difference.

Wayne Rooneys bird sure spends a lot,but if he earns a fortune whats the problem.
Thats where Labour will win it,does anyone think that the economy will do any better under the Tories.......i dont.

I was reading an interesting article the other day that basically stated that whoever wins the next election will have to raise tax.

I'm not really into politics and don't fully understand the whole economic thing but it did make interesting reading :(

Actually what tends to happen is the Tories shift tax from direct to indirect tax, and Labour shift from indirect to direct. The overall tax burden remains somewhere between 38 and 41% no matter who is in.


M

Do you think that's what's happened with Labour in the past 8 years? AFAIK the only direct tax raise has been on National Insurance. Most raises have been indirect - e.g. lower central funding for local councils has meant sharp increases in council tax.