A full list of Conservative tax pledges

Following yesterday's NICs announcement CCHQ have supplied me with a full list of Tory tax pledges.

National Insurance Contributions. Seven out of ten working families will be £150 a year better off under a Conservative government.

Council tax. Council tax, in partnership with local councils, will be frozen for two years, paid for by reducing unnecessary Government spending, for example on consultants and advertising. Councils who can keep tax increases to 2.5% will be given that increase by central government, allowing them to freeze the public’s bills.

Inheritance tax. Conservatives will raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million, taking the family home for the vast majority of people out of Inheritance Tax altogether. This will be funded by charging a flat-rate levy on all UK residents of foreign origin who are tax-domiciled offshore.

Levy on banks. Since November the Conservatives have been calling for international agreement on a bank levy, similar to the plan later announced by President Obama or the tax introduced in Sweden. There is already international support for such a levy.  In America, President Obama has announced plans for a ‘responsibility fee’, designed to recover over $100 billion of public money paid out under the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP). And in Sweden, banks and other credit institutions have been paying a ‘stability fee’ since 2009. Conservatives have now announced that a Conservative Government will definitely introduce a levy on banks to compensate taxpayers for their support, and to help protect them in the future.

Marriage in the tax system. Conservatives will recognise marriage in the tax system and will specify how before polling day.

The couple penalty. Conservatives will end the couple penalty in the tax credits system that currently pays couples more if they split up. We will pay for it from savings made through our radical programme of welfare reform.

Carbon levy. Conservatives will replace the Government’s ineffectual Climate Change Levy – a tax on energy use, not emissions – with a new Carbon Levy which would distinguish properly between high and low carbon production of energy.

Corporation tax. The headline rate of corporation tax will be reduced from 28p to 25p as a first step to lower business taxes, funded by a reduction in complex allowances.

Small business taxation. The small companies’ rate of corporation tax will be cut from 22p to 20p, paid for by removing complex new investment allowances.

Tax simplification. Conservatives will create an Office of Tax Simplification. It will become an independent and permanent voice on tax law, operating in a similar way to the National Audit Office, which will create a sustained and powerful institutional pressure for the simplification of the tax system.

Tim Montgomerie