Increase to NI takes tax burden to highest peacetime level as MPs prepare to vote on Boris Johnson’s announcement
- Boris Johnson stakes reputation on £12bn fix for health and social care
Good morning. Boris Johnson takes a close interest in how his government is reported by the national newspapers and, having announced a £12bn tax rise that clearly breaks a manifesto promise, he might have expected a mauling. Although the coverage is certainly critical, it could have been worse. But Johnson will be paying particular attention to his former employer, the Daily Telegraph, an institution he describes as his “true boss”, and, like other conservative papers, it is particularly interested in the idea that Johnson’s announcement means the Tories have given up on being a low-tax party.
Here is the Telegraph’s front page.
The front page of tomorrow’s Daily Telegraph:
‘Highest taxes since the War’#TomorrowsPapersToday
Sign up for the Front Page newsletterhttps://t.co/x8AV4Oomry pic.twitter.com/yHDse4WrOH
Wednesday’s TIMES: “Tax burden will rise to highest in 70 years” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/IvpaE6aZd7
Wednesday’s Daily MAIL: “Now Make The Care Worth The Cost Boris” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Ow3tSHGeCh
Related: ‘Boris plays catch-up’: what the papers say about Johnson’s tax plan
We’ve learned that low-tax Conservatism is dead. This is the biggest set of tax rises since the 1970s if you take this together with the tax rises in the March budget.
We are the party of low taxation, we will always be a party of low taxation.
Actually, even with this change in the levy, if you take that into account and use the [Office for Budget Responsibility’s] latest numbers, that means the total tax burden as a proportion of our GDP is about 35.5%. That is still lower than France, Italy and Germany. We are still a low-tax country after this change, and we will always remain a low-tax country.
But we are also a responsible, Conservative government that believes passionately in the NHS, and I think this package shows exactly the lengths we would go to to support the NHS.
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