George Osborne came out with what will be another popular policy on the Andrew Marr show this morning. The idea of stabilising fuel prices by cutting the duty on fuel when the price of oil goes up, and increasing it when the price goes down is just the kind of policy we Tories need.
It goes without saying that both Labour and the Lib Dems think Osborne's idea is rubbish (until they steal it). However, the AA think this policy is long overdue and I'm sure that the vast majority of the public will agree with them.
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3 comments:
I think he's onto something, so long as the revenue remains constant that the treasury is expected to collect the tax can be very flexible. It'll help industry too as the cost of fuel will become a more or less known quantity for a year.
It might be overdue but I simply cannot see how this policy will work in practice. A big fall in oil price will cause government revenues to evaporate within a matter of weeks, not years - leaving a gaping hole in public finances.
I find this argument that we can't do anything about anything because "it will leave a gaping hole in public finances" very, very depressing.
With the political will, and bravery, I suspect it would be very easy to find quite a few billion pounds worth of wastage that could be trimmed at a stroke.
Never mind, let's just keep getting taxed to the hilt and use the gaping hole excuse again and again.
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