Philip Hammond gave us a budget for tax avoiders and giant firms | John McDonnell
There is nothing progressive about cutting taxes for companies and the very wealthiest while hitting the self-employed
This week's budget revealed the government's true priorities. It's not about supporting workers or small businesses. It's a government for tax avoiders and giant corporations. Phillip Hammond was boasting about the continuing cuts to taxes for corporations and the super-rich, now totalling 70bn over the next few years, even as he hammered the self-employed with a 2bn national insurance tax hike.
The unfairness of this is very clear. They're making the minicab driver pay more, but the company they work for pays less. A hairdresser earning 15,000 a year will be 139 worse off as a result of the measures announced. On the day, the government has attempted to disguise the true impact of the change by hiding it behind an earlier revision to national insurance contributions. But anyone earning over 8,000 will be hit by the new changes.
Related: 'Rookie error': former chancellor criticises Hammond's NICs plan
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