Tax pledges

 Hammond sticks by manifesto tax pledge

The Times reports that Philip Hammond will use the Autumn Statement to press ahead with billions of pounds worth of tax cuts for lower paid workers. The chancellor is expected to ignore calls to abandon Conservative election promises to increase the amount workers can earn before paying the 40p tax rate. The party’s manifesto last year promised to increase the personal allowance to £12,500, giving 30m workers a tax cut and taking another million people out of tax. Mr Hammond will say that the manifesto commitments must be honoured, even if that means abandoning the government"s original target to have a surplus by 2020. The Conservatives also promised to increase the level at which the 40p higher rate of tax rate kicks in from £42,000 to £50,000 by 2020, resulting in 800,000 people being taken out of the bracket.

The Times (14/11/2016)