Finance (No. 4) Bill

Debate between Alison McGovern and Chris Bryant

Wednesday 18th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern]

May I draw my hon. Friend back to his remark about the ethics of this issue? The ethics of whether people feel as though we are all making a contribution turn very much on what is happening around this rate of tax. Paul Johnson from the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said:

“The truth is we still do not know the true effect of the 50p rate on revenues.”

Does not this make it extremely difficult to make the right political and ethical choice at this time?

[Chris Bryant]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In fact, I think she must have been reading my notes, which were very close to her face, because they say that it is completely uncertain how much this will cost. That is, as my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd said, at the nub of this. The Government have no idea how much this is going to cost them or how much would have been raised had we continued with the 50p rate of tax for another five years. That rate has not been in place long enough for us genuinely to see how it has affected people’s behaviour. Sometimes, when a new rate of tax is brought in it has a sudden impact that then evaporates two or three years later. There is absolutely no certainty and I say to Government Members, who I am sure are going to march loyally through the Lobby with the Exchequer Secretary this afternoon not because he is persuasive but because they believe in this—[Interruption.] He may be persuasive, but I do not think he is going to persuade me. I say to them that I think this will end up being a divisive measure.

The Economy

Debate between Alison McGovern and Chris Bryant

Wednesday 22nd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

rose—

[Chris Bryant]

rose—