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Gordon's sneaky taxes leave thousands worse off Victims of the sneaky mugging range from char­ities to first-time home buyers, it emerged yesterday. After two days spent ana­lysing the

Budget report in detail, the Tories revealed that they had identified the 40 tax rises buried in the fine print. Some, such as scrapping the 10p income tax band, were revealed on Budget day.

But it is only now that the true extent of the Chancellor’s sleight of hand has emerged. Official Treasury figures show the extra taxes equate to £250 for every man, woman and child in

Britain. But many, including the hated death tax, have not been officially costed, so the final bill could be even higher than £15billion. The Daily Express was praised for highlighting the

fact that the Chancellor’s alleged tax-cutting Budget was nothing but a con trick. And yesterday Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said it was becoming ever clearer just how much extra money

Mr Brown was snatching from taxpayers. “The small print of Gordon Brown’s Budget keeps revealing just how stealthy and sneaky he was on Wednesday,” he said. “This new analysis shows how

Gordon Brown introduced a staggering 40 new taxes despite claiming this was a tax-cutting Budget. What a con Brown’s last Budget has turn­ed out to be. “Why can’t the Chancellor be up-front

and honest and restore some trust in this Government?” The biggest stealth tax raid came from removing the 10p rate of in­come tax, which will bring in £7.3billion from 2008. Failing to

increase stamp duty even in line with inflation will add £3.4billion to the taxman’s coffers, hitting hardest first-time buyers and people who have to move to take up a new job. Higher

earners will be stung with an extra £1.1billion in taxes by in­creasing the upper limit for nat­ional insurance contributions. Keeping the thresholds for capital gains tax below the growth

rate in the economy and below house price inflation will net Mr Brown £900million. Business owners who find it hard to let shops and offices will be forced to pay an extra £950million

through changes in property taxes. Staff of managed service companies – many of whom work for the NHS – will be hit with an extra £450million in tax, while the construction industry is

penalised with an additional £250million bill. Even charities do not escape, with the cut in the basic rate of tax from 22p to 20p costing organisations that participate in the Gift Aid

scheme some £70million. But many of the biggest stealth taxes are not costed in the Budget report, including inheritance tax and Mr Brown’s failure to increase the thresholds for the basic

rate of tax with earnings and not inflation. Once those are taken into account, the total bill could be billions higher. Mr Brown’s latest stealth raid comes after a decade that has seen

stealth taxes soar to unprecedented levels. Council tax has more than doubled since 1997, while taxes on travel and insurance have also in­creased enormously. Stealth taxes totalled

£272billion in the year before Labour came to power, while next year they are due to hit £500billion. Over the same period, Britain’s tax burden increased from 41.5 per cent of gross

domestic product to 42.7 per cent, one of the world’s highest. Tory leader David Cameron said yesterday that Mr Brown had now lost the public’s trust. He was speaking as a new poll showed

that seven out of 10 people felt no better off from the Budget. Mr Cameron vowed that a Tory government would be more honest and not “spin” tax increases. He said: “Today I want to make it

clear that I regard Gordon Brown to be the natural heir to Tony Blair in the art of spin. When politicians betray the trust they have received from the public, the public loses trust in

them. “For me, this week’s events have convinced me of one thing – you can’t trust Gordon Brown.” Mr Cameron added that the 2p tax cut was “the latest in a long line of deceptions from the

Treasury”. Yesterday’s poll showed that most people were not taken in by Mr Brown’s 2p cut in the basic rate of income tax. The survey found that just 18 per cent of voters felt they would

be better off. Meanwhile, Mr Cameron also launched a bid to woo Liberal Democrat voters yesterday, telling them there was a home for them in his “modern, moderate Con­servative Party”. Again

accusing Mr Blair and Mr Brown of causing a breakdown in trust in politics, the Tory leader called for Liberal and Con­ser­vative supporters to “rally to­gether behind an alternative

government-in-waiting”. He said the time was right for a “new Liberal-Conservative consensus” combining individual freedom and social responsibility. His comments came as Mr Osborne revealed

to GMTV he had held conversations with Lib Dem and Labour MPs – including the highly-regarded Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman David Laws – in the hope of attracting defectors.

Senior Conservatives believe they can exploit a rift in the top ranks of the Lib Dems between senior figures like Mr Laws and others who envisage a coalition with Labour under Mr Brown

following the next election. * What's REALLY wrong with Britain? Go to the BLOGS section now to find out...