Send poorest Brits a cheque and don’t hike corporation tax, George Osborne tells Rishi Sunak
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is convinced a windfall tax is coming, despite the squabbling between Numbers 10 and 11, while also saying he would put a cheque in the post to the poorest families in the UK.
Moreover, he disagrees with present Chancellor Rishi Sunak over the proposed rise in corporation tax.
Journalist Andrew Neil asked Osborne in his Channel 4 show if there should be a windfall tax.
Osborne replied: “I’m sure there will be one although it is interesting. I think it doesn’t massively help.”
He said: “I think he [Sunak] will do one but I have to say it’s not really addressing the serious fiscal problem the country is going to have in the next two or three years.
“It’s a one-off scoop of money. You have an interesting dynamic where, apparently, number 10 don’t want one and number 11 do.”
George Osborne
When discussing what support Sunak can give to families during the cost of living crisis, Osborne said he would put cheques in the post to the poorest families in the UK.
“You can use council tax bills to essentially send cheques to people, not unlike what they do in the US. And I think that’s probably the most straightforward way to help people without getting into the intricacies of all the benefits system. You just send households on lower incomes and middle incomes a cheque in the post,” said Osborne.
He added: “I don’t know whether Universal Credit is the best instrument but I would definitely target the support at the lowest incomes.”
Corporation tax
Osborne disagreed with Sunak’s proposal to increase corporation tax next year.
“Of all the decisions Rishi Sunak has taken, that’s the one I disagree with and disagree with publicly. I thought cutting corporation tax was a way of showing the world that Britain was open for business.”
He added: And, although other countries are raising corporation tax now, which is in a different context, it’s not what I would be doing, but he’s got to make his own decisions.”