Ben Gummer MP suggests Labour should submit tax and spending plans to OBR for authentication

By Tim Montgomerie
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Ben Gummer MP introduced his idea of a tax statement for every Briton in the Commons yesterday. You can read his full remarks here but it was largely a recap of what ConservativeHome has already reported.

But Ben did add one further and very interesting new thought:

"I further suggest that the Office for Budget Responsibility be required to assess the major parties’ manifestos at election time, at the request of those parties, in order that it may produce dummy tax statements so that voters can see the difference that their vote might make. A similar role is performed by the Congressional Budget Office in the United States, and there is no reason why it cannot be so here. In so doing, we may throw a little light on what is, for most people, the most confusing and murky period in the electoral cycle."

That sounds like a very good idea to me. Voters at the next election would benefit if all of the parties' tax and spending plans had been independently verified. If Labour chooses not to submit their plans to the OBR the floating voter will make the obvious conclusion: They are hiding something.