Coalition must offer "light at the end of the tunnel" to taxpayers

By Tim Montgomerie

Since The Sun endorsed David Cameron last September it has been a tireless campaigner for the Conservatives. Up until now, only Ken Clarke's prisons policy has caused it serious concern. Today's 'Sun Says' column is therefore worth highlighting:

"No one expects quick tax giveaways from a Coalition shoring up the catastrophic balance sheet it inherited from Labour. But to rule them out for at least five years is bleak news, especially with VAT about to soar. Everyone bar the madder elements of Labour's front bench accepts the need for austerity after a decade-plus of unhinged spending. But the Coalition should remember that the boom years saw a tidal wave of sneaky tax hikes of which Gordon Brown was a master architect. Taxpayers need light at the end of the tunnel - before the end of this Parliament."

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander wasn't wrong yesterday to warn that taxpayers face a difficult five years but his promise of more redistributive tax changes echoes the views of his Liberal Democrat colleague Vince Cable. George Osborne will have to fight hard to stop the Liberal Democrats from piling more taxes on Britain's wealth creators.

I support a rebalancing of the tax system but one that redistributes from the unproductive to the productive parts of the economy. That means, for example, higher taxes on pollution and high value property and lower taxes on jobs and investment (see here). Such changes will help deliver the economic growth that will (1) accelerate deficit reduction and (2) give Cameron the scope to include lower taxes in the next Tory manifesto if not, as The Sun hopes, during this Parliament.