Roger Carr backs 50p tax rate for high earners – for now
ROGER Carr, the new president of the CBI, has said that, on a personal basis, he backs the 50p tax rate for higher earners at the present time.
Carr, speaking to City A.M. yesterday, said that, like most business people, he wanted lower taxes eventually to encourage more people to be entrepreneurial.
But that during the current period of economic adversity he thought, from a personal point of view, that it was not “unreasonable” for those with the ability to pay to make a contribution. “Going forward I hope we see positive momentum on the tax front,” he said.
The 50p tax rate, which affects those earning over £150,000 a year, was brought in by the previous Labour government but has been maintained by the coalition. It was attacked by former CBI president Martin Broughton as an “act of economic vandalism”.
Carr, who chaired Cadbury until it was taken over by US-controlled Kraft, is widely expected to use his influence within the CBI to scrutinise the UK’s mergers policy to see whether the national interest is always best served by such takeovers.
Shortly after Cadbury admitted defeat, Carr launched a debate about the City’s takeover panel rules which is still ongoing.