London: Boris Johnson, the front-runner to become Britain’s next prime minister, said on Sunday he wanted to cut business taxes and relieve the income tax burden on some workers.
The contest to replace Prime Minister Theresa May begins in earnest on Monday after she resigned last week as Conservative Party leader, having failed to unite her party or deliver Brexit on time.
Writing in his weekly column, Johnson – the face of Brexit for many Britons after he led the 2016 campaign to leave the EU – outlined his approach to lower taxation.
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“We should be cutting business taxes,” he wrote, without elaborating.
Johnson, a former foreign minister and mayor of London who resigned in protest at May’s Brexit strategy, is the bookmakers’ favourite to win the leadership battle that will play out over the next six weeks.
The Telegraph reported separately that he would raise the point at which workers begin paying a 40% income tax to 80,000 pounds ($101,824) from 50,000 pounds.
The move would cost 9.6 billion pounds ($12.2 billion) annually and be partly funded by using money set aside in the current budget to deal with the consequences of Brexit, the paper reported.
“We should be raising thresholds of income tax – so that we help the huge numbers that have been captured in the higher rate by fiscal drag. We can go for much greater economic growth – and still be the cleanest, greenest society on earth.”