The Labour party has pledged not to increase VAT if it wins the election saying hikes “hit pensioners and the poorest hardest”.
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls is expected to say in a speech later today that the next Labour government will not raise VAT, flying in the face of repeated claims from the Conservative party that Labour would have to raise taxes to stem the cuts that are being made to public spending.
Balls will say: “We will not put up VAT. And we will not extend it to food, children’s clothes, books, newspapers and public transport fares.
“We will not raise VAT because it’s the tax that hits everyone. It’s the tax that hits you every day. And it hits pensioners and the poorest hardest.”
Balls will say in the speech in Birmingham that this pledge will be extended “to food, children’s clothes, books, newspapers and public transport fares.”
Chancellor George Osbourne has also insisted the Tories will not raise taxes after the election, the same promise made ahead of the last election which was followed by a rise in VAT from 17.5% to 20%.
