Mike Berners-Lee
@MikeBernersLee
I would love to avoid getting party political. But this is so obscene and immoral that it would be wrong to hold back.
Please do not ever vote for anyone in any party who even stayed quiet about the awfulness of these tax cuts for the rich at this time
Kwasi Kwarteng defends massive tax cuts as fair for all
Kwasi Kwarteng has said massive tax cuts aimed at boosting economic growth are fair for all despite the highest earners gaining the most.
The chancellor scrapped the top rate of income tax as part of the biggest package of tax cuts in 50 years.
Labour and some Tory MPs have said it was wrong to cut taxes for the wealthy during a cost-of-living crisis.
But Mr Kwarteng said he was "being fair" by reducing taxes right across the income bracket.
The package of measures, which has been dubbed a mini-budget, will be paid for by a sharp rise in government borrowing amounting to tens of billions of pounds.
Paul Johnson, director of the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the plans were a "big gamble", with money being pumped into the economy when inflation remains high.
There was an immediate reaction in financial markets,
as the pound sunk and UK stocks fell.
In an interview with BBC News political editor Chris Mason, the chancellor said: "I don't think it's a gamble at all.
"What was a gamble, in my view, was sticking to the course we are on."
Mr Kwarteng insisted not cutting taxes and continuing to follow the path of the previous government - led by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson - was more risky.
"So what we had to do was have a reboot, a rethink," Mr Kwarteng said.
He said his mini-budget was not an admission of failure, as
Labour suggested in response to his statement, and a recession forecasted by the Bank of England was "not inevitable"
But, he said, "we also recognise we could do things better".
He said his moves to
reduce income tax, scrap a planned rise in National Insurance and support households with energy bills would "help the most vulnerable people in society get through a difficult time".
Asked whether the UK economy was now in recession, Mr Kwarteng said that while, "technically, the Bank of England said that there was a recession", he thought it "would be shallow" and he hoped "we would rebound and grow".
When pressed, the chancellor said he did not acknowledge that the UK was in recession and that one was not inevitable.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies said the richest 10% of households would gain the most from Mr Kwarteng's measures, which undo the tax rises introduced by former chancellor Rishi Sunak, who left office in July.
Full article -
Kwasi Kwarteng defends massive tax cuts as fair for all
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