What should the Conservatives drop in order to fund tax cuts?

Question

It is more than likely that there will be a Conservative landslide at the next election, so they will be given carte blanche to do what they like until an Opposition regroups.

One Conservative think tank is arguing for tax cuts now, but the leadership suggests this is idiotic until public spending and public borrowing have been brought down first, and this may take a couple of years.

It does mean that someone's pet project or sacred cow must get the axe. So what is it to be? Whatever is cut will have consequences, please also put the case against the cuts suggested by other answerers, and suggest different ones.

I personally would welcome tax cuts, not in Income Tax (which I think ought to be put up to 25% and 50%) but the great bloated collection of stealth taxes and the administration that goes with them, starting with Council Tax and VAT, and followed quickly by National Business Rate.

Answer 1

thats the problem people just dont realize how much we pay in taxes once you add in all taxes from local to state to federal and all the hidden taxes on phones and gas etc we are already paying 40 % of our income to some form of government.  The solution is not so easy since we are going to have to fight an intrenched and determined enemy but we must force them to downsize and to cut their own spending if they have to lay off a bunch of workers so what ? It happpens to all of us on a daily basis make them suffer and pay for a change !

Answer 2

Sack all of the needless beurocrats, scrap the needless quangos and pointless pet projects e.g ID cards (which they are against anyway). Stop the mindless handouts to the scroungers who can't be bothered to work and how many billions can you save? Enough to fund big tax cuts.

Answer 3

Funding for illegal wars, huge cash contributions to other countries, MPs perks and expenses, contributions to the corrupt EU.

Answer 4

Get out of the EU - million and millions of pounds saved, and that's just from the gravy train - sorry could not resist that.

Answer 5

Why worry about raising taxes! We can just keep borrowing. No care about paying it back, h**l, let our children & grandchildren pay it back. Let us, the "now" generation just enjoy ourselves. Or better yet, tax everybody else but "me".  

Answer 6

Funding for faith schools, and tax-exempt status for any religious organisation.

Answer 7

Their support for the rich.  And the 2012 Olympics.

Answer 8

their expenses

Answer 9

I have to doubt the abilities of someone who thinks the Income Tax should be raised to as much as 50%.  Unless you are speaking of the true intended purpose of the Income Tax (which was to collect tax on monies generated by business ventures, and not what it has become, which is a way for the federal government to sick its hands into the pockets of every worker in America, ignoring the fact that the worker/ employer relationship is more akin to a bartering agreement than a business transaction), in which case I apologize.

That said, while I agree that tax cuts would be beneficial, and while I also believe that there are many things in government that should be cut out, I see no reason for anything to have to be cut in order to implement tax cuts.  Where is it written that the government needs a certain amount of dollars in order to function?  Why not just put tax cuts in place and force the fed to do what we all must do when times are tight -- find a way to make do with what we have?  All this cutting of programs for the implementation of new ones amounts to nothing more than hopping from one broken foot to another, never addressing the fact that both your feet are broken.  No matter how you juggle the same cash-in / cash-out numbers, nothing is really being changed except the names on the envelopes.  The real solution to the problem is smaller federal government (which would generate less need for cash to run it), noninterventionist foreign policy (which would free up an immense amount of money by bringing home our troops and equipment from all over the world, not just the middle east) and a return to State and local rights government policy here at home (which makes each State, and in turn the entire Nation, stronger and more self-sufficient).    

Answer 10

Their trousers.

Answer 11

get out of the EU 'its a bottomless money pit'. drop faith schools, drop immigration and close our borders, and Finlay throw out (with out legal complications) every body that doesn't hold a British pass port and there for has no cause or right to be here. re nationalise gas. elec etc...and let the huge profits serve the country and not the individual.

Answer 12

Gordon Brown from about six feet, with a rope round his sneering neck!

Answer 13

They will save money on trivial things:-

Such as pensions, minimum wage, tax credits, health service, etc.

Let the peasants stand on their own two knees