Brown's Economic Policy Will Inevitably Lead To Tax Hikes, Say UK Bosses

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

06 January 2004

Bosses of UK-based blue-chip firms have attacked Chancellor Gordon Brown’s economic policies, which they argue are eroding the nation’s competitiveness, and will lead to inevitable tax rises.

Responding to questions put by the FT, one chief executive of a FTSE 100 listed company suggested that the government’s rising borrowing requirements are “very concerning”, and are based on “unrealistic” forecasts and assumptions laid out recently in the pre-Budget report. The chief executive argued that this will lead to “inevitable” tax rises when the government deems it politically expedient to impose them.

Other firms are equally depressed about Brown’s policies, with one supermarket chain reporting that it paid a “notional” tax rate of 53% on its profits.

The Chancellor was forced to raise his forecast for net public sector borrowing for 2004 in December’s pre-Budget report by £7 billion, to £31 billion. However, independent economists claim that this will fall short by some £6 billion.

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