Sit Philip Hammond in front of our very own Fraser Nelson, and you know that one topic’s bound to come up: the Tories’ commitment to the 50p tax rate. And so it was at this morning’s DLA Piper and Spectator Business Breakfast Debate at the Merchant Taylors¹ Hall in Threadneedle Street.
Fraser chided the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, claiming that this Tory policy would leave the restaurants in Zurich “doing very well,” as our entreprenurial class potentially leaves these
shores behind. “If the rich are going to suffer, are they going to stay?”
Hammond’s response? That he didn’t think the tax would make people move abroad, and that the Tories would ensure it’s only a temporary measure. So that’s that, then. Although you wonder what length of time Hammond has in mind – particularly if it turns out that 50p does indeed reduce the Exchequer’s tax take.
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