Labour calls for inquiry into Tory tax plans

Labour calls for statistics watchdog investigation

David Cameron says he felt a “moral duty” to cut taxes after next year’s general election (Getty Images)

Labour has called for an investigation by the statistics watchdog into claims by David Cameron that proposed Tory tax changes will save the average worker £3,800 by 2020.

In an apparent attempt to return the spotlight to the economy after bruising headlines about Europe and immigration, Mr Cameron used a Times article to say he felt a “moral duty” to cut taxes after next year’s general election.

He said the Coalition had cut income tax by £10.5bn since 2010 and that a majority Conservative government after May’s poll would deliver a further tax cut worth £7.2bn to 30 million voters, leaving most basic-rate taxpayers paying £3,800 less over the next Parliament than they would under plans inherited from Labour.

But in a letter to UK Statistics Authority chairman Sir Andrew Dilnot, Labour Treasury spokesman Chris Leslie said the PM’s figures were “highly misleading”, as they did not take into account the Coalition’s VAT hike and reductions in tax credits, which had contributed to an overall rise in tax receipts of £25bn over the course of the Parliament.

Mr Leslie added that Tory plans to raise the threshold at which workers pay the higher 40p rate of income tax to £50,000, while boosting the personal allowance below which no tax is payable to £12,500, were unfunded.