Re-re-re-rebuttal and Treasury spin

Benedict Brogan has an interesting article on the Tory announcement of Taxes on non-doms (I assume this is not a comment on their sexual preferences) and how it has been costed. Apparently Labour has gone into "berserk" mode spraying out allegations and trotting out the usual "black hole" stories. This of course is to be expected with any tax changes to be proposed by the Tories, particularly those that catch Labour off guard and exposed after their promises to sort this out.

However the big question is right at the end of the article when Benedict says he has in his inbox a press release from Labour Party Press Office, , in which Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, claims:

"Today George Osborne made a £3.5 billion tax commitment. Treasury analysis shows it is impossible for him to raise the money he needs to pay for this commitment from his proposals on residence and domicile. Initial costings by the Treasury show that George Osborne's proposal would raise a maximum of £650m, leaving George Osborne at least £2.9 billion short. So George Osborne cannot afford the promises he is making. He cannot afford to cut inheritance tax."

Benedict then goes onto say

The italics are mine, but I look forward to hearing from the Treasury tomorrow why exactly its civil servants and this Government department are doing party political work to undermine another political party's conference.

All taxpayers will be waiting with bated breath to see how Mr Darling spins this one. I assume he will say something along the lines that we have already looked at this and rejected it etc etc.

Benedict Brogan's political blog