Conservative commitments 7

7.    Ensure all people who work 30 hours per week on the minimum wage pay no income tax

See 23. In contrast to the preceding policy, this is nicely specific, although it still doesn’t say how it will be ensured. If it did, people would realise that it’s a duplicate promise to the promise to raise the personal allowance to £12,500.

The Conservatives have promised to raise the minimum age to £8/hr. This promise is therefore to ensure that everyone earning £12,480/yr will not pay income tax, exactly as promised elsewhere.

This might be the reporter’s ignorance, so let’s reserve judgement on this one, just noting that it would be open and honest to report that actually it’s the same thing. It’s better for the Conservatives to give the impression of having lots of policies relevant to low-paid workers where they can.

6 fails - 1 neutral - 0 positive

Conservative commitments -1, fail

I intend to make this a regular series of posts examining commitments the Conservative (and Unionist) Party made before the election, including those outside of the manifesto. I was unimpressed with their offerings and decided to go through them one by one. I haven't put them in much of an order.

1.     Introduce a law guaranteeing no rise in income tax rates, VAT or national insurance before 2020

As Parliament is able to change all laws, having both executive and legislative power, a law limiting Parliament is a pointless waste of time. This commitment was a cynical campaign stunt that says more about how willing the party is to deceive the electorate because the promise implies that it is a meaningful commitment. An open and honest politician would never have promised something that is a waste of time (and therefore money).

       Additionally, this pledge does not refer to all taxes. As a political statement, it is quite limited, because it leaves plenty of room for ‘stealth taxes’, which were heavily criticised by the Conservatives when Gordon Brown used them, or for other tax rises. As a bold statement, though, it helps give the general emotional impression of a party that is more against tax rises than other parties. 

 It's for effect, not impact, and is all style and no substance. I count that as a failure, although some fans of politics love that sort of thing.