Clause 2
Finance Bill
Public Bill Committees, 19 May 2009, 11:00 am
David Gauke (Shadow Minister, Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
That is a perfectly fair question. The policy remains the same—to reduce tax to nil. The amendment arrived literally as the Minister was sitting down on the Adjournment debate—I do not want to conceal that from the Committee. Our policy remains the same, but it is only fair to the Committee that I explain that. If the Minister has been forced to examine in great detail the arguments about extending the basic rate, as I fear he may have done, I should perhaps apologise, but it was a “needs must” amendment—something that was to hand.
The Minister will be aware of our policy for 2009-10 to abolish tax on savings income for all basic rate taxpayers. Applying the 10p rate could be described as a halfway house. The amendment is designed to probe the matter.