#TaxtheRich trends as NI hike dubbed the new ‘poll tax’

Boris Johnson broke an election promise as he announced a £12 billion a year tax raid to address the funding crisis in health and social care. The decision has been slammed from a large cross-section of the political spectrum.

The prime minister insisted the new health and social care levy, based on a 1.25 per cent increase in National Insurance contributions, was “the reasonable and the fair approach”.

Downing Street said that a typical basic rate taxpayer earning £24,100 would pay £180 a year, while a higher rate taxpayer on £67,100 would pay £715 as a result of the new tax.

Election pledge

Mr Johnson entered Downing Street in 2019 claiming he had a clear plan to fix the social care crisis and the manifesto which helped secure his landslide election win later that year promised not to raise National Insurance.

Admitting that the pledge had been scrapped, Mr Johnson said: “No Conservative government ever wants to raise taxes and I will be honest with the House, yes, I accept that this breaks a manifesto commitment, which is not something I do lightly.

“But a global pandemic was in no-one’s manifesto and I think the people of this country understands that in their bones and they can see the enormous steps this Government and the Treasury have taken.

“After all the extraordinary actions that have been taken to protect lives and livelihoods over the last 18 months, this is the right, the reasonable and the fair approach.”

Poll tax

The SNP’s Ian Blackford was enraged by the new tax rise and compared it to the hated poll tax, introduced by Magaret Thatcher. He told the House” “This is the Prime Minister’s poll tax, on Scottish workers, to pay for English social care… why are Scottish families being hit by another Tory poll tax.”

He was then called out by Gavin Newlands, another SNP MP who said: “The Prime Minister’s brexit bonus, £350million a week, would bring in £18 billion a year… where is this money or did it never exist?”