David Sumberg MEP
Date: 06/02/2003
LABOUR'S KAMIKAZE JOBS TAX WILL CAUSE MISERY
Euro MP David Sumberg is warning thousands of North West jobs are under threat with fewer than 60 days to go until Gordon Brown introduces a 'kamikaze' rise in National Insurance contributions.Mr Sumberg said the increase in NI contributions - effectively a jobs tax - could not have come at a worse time for the North West economy as the CBI announced that up to 42,000 UK jobs could be lost in the first quarter of this year.
"The stock market slump has already caused the Institute of Fiscal Studies to declare that the Chancellor will have to raise taxes by up to £11 billion, by 2005 at the latest, to cover the “black hole” triggered by tumbling shares,' he said. " This prediction will send a shudder down the spine of North West employers and employees already bracing themselves for the NI increases. It has been calculated that coupled with the freeze in personal tax allowances the NI increases will cause someone earning £10,000-a-year to pay an extra £83, a £20,000-a-year earner an extra £183 and a £30,000-a-year earner an extra £283."
Mr Sumberg said in total the NI increase will raise £7.4 billion for Mr Brown in the coming year the pain being shared equally between employees who will contribute £3.5 billion and employers who will pay £3.9 billion.
KAMIKAZE TAX INCREASES
"Labour's kamikaze tax increases are exerting intolerable pressure on many families and businesses,' he said. "And we live in perilous times. As the CBI revealed this week a survey it carried out found manufacturing confidence down in every region of the country for the first time in more than a year - with the North West suffering one of the sharpest declines. Yet the taxes continue to pile up. The stealth tax on fuel ensures our petrol prices remain the highest in Europe, council tax will rise above inflation again this year with average income earners facing bills of £1000-a-year. Moreover the pensions tax, introduced in 1997, has taken a staggering £25 billion pounds from our pension funds to date. This has led to slashed payouts from pension schemes, higher contributions and the closure of many final salary company pensions.
"Yet what do we get from from Labour? Rising violent crime, longer hospital waiting lists, an abject failure to improve our roads or railways - and yet more TAX."