Johnson pledges tax cut on campaign trail
Boris Johnson promised a tax cut for millions of workers during a visit to Teesside, reports George Parker in Middlesbrough.
Mr Johnson said the Conservatives would raise the starting point for National Insurance payments to £12,000, from the current level of £8,632.
“We will be cutting National Insurance up to £12,000,” the prime minister said on the election campaign trail.
During the Conservative leadership campaign over the summer, Mr Johnson raised the possibility of increasing the earnings level at which employees start paying National Insurance contributions.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think-tank, has estimated that raising the earnings threshold to £12,500 a year would cost around £10bn if it applied only to contributions by employees and self-employed workers.
Tory officials declined to confirm that the policy would be included in the party manifesto, to be published on Sunday.
Mr Johnson was questioned about Tory tax policy at Wilton Engineering in Middlesbrough.
Claire Cartlidge, a member of the public, asked the prime minister: “You said low tax; do you mean low tax for people like you or low tax for people like us?”
Mr Johnson replied: “I mean low tax for working people. If you look at what we are doing and what I said in the last few days, we are going to be cutting National Insurance up to £12,000.”
And we are going to make sure we cut business rates for small businesses, we are cutting tax for working people.
