Budget day tomorrow, and I’m sure many of you will relish the reminder that you are, in George Osborne’s reported view, ‘successful’ because you pay 40p tax band.
It’s better than that, in fact. I know of men who ask their partners to make obscene references about their tax contribution during intimate moments, about how they are part of the 15 per cent of taxpayers who are reducing the deficit and making Britain the fastest-growing economy in the G7.
Stranger still, Osborne is reported to have said, although he denies everything, that the 40p tax made people more likely to vote Conservative. This is the polar opposite of the truth; the life choice most likely to steer men and women from left-liberal singleton lifestyles towards a conservative outlook is marriage and children; in the US, the GOP’s marriage gap for women is enormous.
If the Conservatives are as interested in socially engineering the electorate as their opponents, then the one thing their economic policy should be steered at is making it easier for people to settle down and have kids.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in