General Election 2015: Labour’s Ed Balls refuses to rule out corporation tax rise
Ed Balls has refused to rule out a rise in corporation tax if Labour wins the general election in three weeks’ time.
The Labour shadow chancellor refused to rule out a further increase in corporation tax to the one per cent already pledged by the party when questioned on Sky News’ Murnaghan show.
The current coalition has cut corporation tax from 28 to 20 per cent – the lowest level in the G7.
Balls has previously promised to keep that status intact, yet that could still involve a significant increase the next lowest level in the G7 belongs to Canada at around 26 per cent.
British business groups such as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and EEF have warned Labour of undoing the competitiveness achieved by the country in recent years.
EEF chief executive Terry Scuoler said: “Labour should also not seek to unpick what has worked well in the last five years, from supportive business taxes to strategies which have helped boost key sectors of the economy.”
On Sky News Balls also said he shared the Tories’ desire to put Lloyds and RBS back in the private sector, but remained skeptical of their plans for a mass retail sale of Lloyds shares at below-market prices.
I am not going to do it by discounting the price at sale, which ends up with a big rise in prices afterwards, which means the killing goes to institutional investors and doesn’t go to the taxpayer and the national debt.I hope David Cameron and George Osborne now admit they got the Royal Mail sale badly wrong. I promise you this – I will not short change the taxpayer on Lloyds and RBS.