Top Tories’ Talk Tax – The Difference? £25.7bn

n their quest to achieve the highest political office, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are divided in their approach to taxation. Tax refund experts, RIFT Tax Refunds, have set out the main differences between the two contenders. And it’s stark.

Rishi Sunak
National Insurance – Up
Corporation Tax – Up 24%
VAT on fuel – Down
Fuel Duty – No change
Green Levies – No change
Benefit to taxpayer/cost fo treasury – £4.3bn

Liz Truss
National Insurance – Down
Corporation Tax – Down 19%
VAT on fuel – No change
Fuel Duty – Down
Green Levies – Down
Benefit to taxpayer/cost fo treasury – £30bn

The two camps are fighting over reviving a seemingly Thatcherite ideology as they play to the Conservative membership and vye for their votes.

However in a recent YouGov poll of 855 Conservative members, tax was mentioned as an issue by just 10% of respondents. Only one third of party members said they even sought ‘conventional conservatism’ in which tax reductions might be included – and in fact many more respondents stated ‘strong personal character’ as more important over and above taxation issues, at 18% of those polled.

Tellingly, in the poll taken by YouGov days earlier, 19% of Tory members want the policies and the general political direction of the ousted Boris Johnson continued.

CEO of RIFT Tax Refunds, Bradley Post, commented:

“Both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are bringing two very different proposals to the table and this is especially true of their stance on tax, where there is currently a £25.7 billion difference in approach.

Rishi Sunak is keen to ensure that tax revenue is high enough to repay Covid induced debt and to stem inflation, albeit now u-turning on vat on fuel, whilst Liz Truss maintains that tax cuts are necessary to help grow the economy away from recession.

Depending on who takes the hot seat, there will be some important changes on the horizon for both the everyday consumer and British businesses.”