Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper says he wants to see the government keep its promise and reduce the top rate of income tax in the next Budget.
The Lib Vannin leader will bring a motion to Tynwald this month to tell Treasury to reduce the rate from 22% back to 20%.
The former health minister, speaking to Manx.News said he is “a great believer in politicians keeping their promises” and thinks it is important that the temporary tax rise is reversed.
Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson has previously said that the introduction of a health levy had proved “more complicated” than expected is now “unlikely” to be ready for the 2025 Budget.
Temporary
Mr Hooper said: “Government said this was going to be temporary, the only reason that I supported it was it was going to be a one off and it was going to be fixed properly during the financial year in time for the 2025, budget.
“It turns out that it may not be now, so really, what that means is Treasury hasn’t done their job, their side of the deal, but I think the public have.
“The public have paid the tax, they did their bit, so I think government needs to do its bit and they need to stick to their original timetable of reducing that 2% back out of the income tax bracket.”
Ring Fenced?
Mr Hooper said he isn’t fully convinced that the money raised through the income tax rise was ring fenced for health and social care, noting that overall government spending rose in last year’s Budget.
He said: “The idea that this 2% increase was all ring fenced for the health service, you could make that case if nowhere else had gone up, but actually spending has gone up across the board, so it’s a really difficult case to make.
Funding
The Liberal Vannin MHK said that the money can be found to replace the tax increase by making greater efficiencies across government.
Noting that Manx Care is expected to save 6% from its budget, something he thinks other departments could do.
He said: “Government spends outside of Max care about a billion pounds a year, if they can’t find £20m worth of savings out of a billion pounds worth of expenditure. I think we’ve got real problems.”
This is one of a number of motions Mr Hooper is due to bring to Tynwald this month and we will have more from our interview with him about them throughout the week.
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