Thursday 9 July 2020

Waiting To See What The Tories Catch Is

The Conservative Party under Theresa May was unable to give the nurses a pay rise after 8 years of no pay rise that as they didn't have a magic money tree but the same Conservatives under Boris Johnson seem to have found one because they are handing out money like there's no tomorrow. 
Since the pandemic began, Boris Johnson's government has spent £159bn in direct measures including the job retention scheme and tax cuts, as well as a further £123bn on deferred tax rises and yesterday they added another £30bn to that with an extension of the job retention, this time a £1,000 handout to companies that put furloughed staff back on the payroll until January.
I would not berate the Government for the job retention scheme, if anything it is about the only thing they got right during the whole pandemic crisis but there is something in the back of my mind which says that this 'giving away money' is so unTory like that there has to be a sting somewhere and i can see it being how the massive bill is going to be settled.
The only way is to bring more money in or pay less money out and after a decade of austerity, it is hard to see what there is left to cut, that half of the equation has been squeezed as tight as possible so it will have to be tax rises.
The tax system in the UK is complicated with the three tax rate bands and tax reliefs and expenses so it won't be as simple as just adding a few pence to everyone's income tax as that hits the lowest earners harder but the Conservatives are not known as the nasty party for nothing.
Handing out freebies is just not the Conservatives we know, and Boris Johnson is as trustworthy as asking George Best to mind your drink while you nipped to the loo so we will have to wait and see just what the catch is, because guaranteed there will be one

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