Is The Chancellor Just Pigheaded

[Gromit]

// Wake up and cut taxes, top Tories tell the Chancellor

George Osborne is facing demands from Conservative MPs and business leaders to use the Budget to cut taxes and demonstrate Tory support for “aspiration” after last week’s crushing Eastleigh by-election defeat. //

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9906345/Wake-up-and-cut-taxes-top-Tories-tell-the-Chancellor.html

It has been plain for a long time that high taxes, higher living costs and lack of Government spending is crippling the economy. The shortage of disposable income means people are not spending. That's bad for business, bad for the country and bad for Conservative getting re-elected. It seems everyone knows this except George Osborne. Now, even his own party are petitioning for a change.

If he is too pigheaded to change, should be replaced asap?

[jim360]

I don't know enough about economics really, though surely it can't really be as simple as cut taxes and everything will fix? Even so the gist of your point I completely agree with -- for whatever reason what Osborne is doing now isn't working and so he needs to change it and fast. Either be more firm and solid in driving through needed reforms that are being blocked, or more likely a change of direction. Cutting corporation tax is certainly a popular suggestion, that is bound to help businesses to some level. At any rate the current course is not working out so tie to try something new.

[bazwillrun]

Ooooh, lets have some changes and then people of a certain persuasion can start screaming U-turn.

Perhaps people are also waking up to the fact that since their pensions were stolen by a certain government they need to put every penny into it just to survive in old age.

Perhaps people have finally woken up to the fact they dont need to buy the latest gadget to drive the consumer behemoth, maybe the one they have still does everything they actually need it to do.

[Noth43]

Yes.....and.......yes.
The funny thing is it's the same backbenchers putting pressure on Osbourne and Cameron who voted them into office. Now they realise they've backed the wrong horse and if they had any principles at all they'd leave the party for the one that crushed them in Eastleigh.

[emmie]

who was that then ^^

[douglas9401]

He's certainly not 'just' pigheaded, he has many other flaws.

[Gromit]

baz,

When we have 0% or even negative interest, how do we grow our savings and investments?

Coupled with the effective devaluing of what we have saved because of quantative easing, then Osborne is doing a great job in emulating Brown by sabotarging all our futures.

[emmie]

so you actually admit Brown got something wrong...

[bazwillrun]

Remind me who it was that single handedly stole pensions.

[sp1814]

Gromit

However (and I'm someone who only just scraped a 'C' in O Level Economics), aren't low interest rates good for businesses and home-owners, because it keeps the costs of finance down?

[ichkeria]

Reducing people's personal taxes won't really help, not in the short term: unless they were reduced drastically, all that is going to happen is a significant reduction in income for the exchequer while having a negligible affect on people's spending power (an argument whose reverse is conveniently brushed aside, admittedly, when it comes to the prospect of RAISING income tax, for example).
A bit like the largely useless but politically motivated reduction in petrol tax.

Of course some the last budget before the election ...

[pdq1]

If they put that £300bn from QE into industry or consumers pockets instead of the banks balance sheets maybe we would see some action. Cutting taxes will mean less goes into the treasury.

[youngmafbog]

Unfortunately public spending is still way too high. Whilst I admit I can't stand Osbourne he is in a tricky position.

He inherited the worst economy possible, New Labour pretty well bankrupted the country and flooded it with foreigners draining the social care and benefits system. This has been compounded but the liberals who dont want to cut the deficit really. There is plenty of fat still in the public sector, the art is to get that fat cut rather than people with a certain political agenda sacking front line staff simply to make a point.

They should never have got into bed with the liberals, it was doomed from the start.