Conservative MPs Worry Cost Of Headline Tax Cuts Will Be Hikes Elsewhere

A number of Conservative MPs have expressed concern that any cuts to personal taxation in Jeremy Hunt's Spring Budget are likely to be raising taxes on business and foreign nationals.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is widely expected to include a slew of tax cuts in his Budget statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday, with a cut National Insurance by a further two percentage points considered to be the most likely option, according to The Times. 

A senior minister told PoliticsHome they expected the Treasuryto cut personal taxesto revive the Tories’ election hopes after a series of dire opinion polls which put the Conservatives more than 20 points behind Labour. 

However, many Tory MPs were concerned the Chancellor would scrap non-domiciled tax and increase some taxes on business to free up space to cut National Insurance and Income Tax. 

The Chancellor is considering scrapping non-domiciled tax rules, Treasury sources have told the FT, which would raisewhich would raise £3.2billion a year, according to academic research from London School of Economics. The Sunday Telegraph reported the Government was also contemplating hiking business class air fares. 

John Redwood, Conservative MP for Wokingham, told PoliticsHome the government should cut taxes such as National Insurance and Income Tax without raising them in other areas to regain the Conservative's reputation as the party of low taxation. 

“The last thing you do is dream up new taxes, the last thing you do is put taxes up. Hunt says he wants to find his inner Lawson, well get on with it,” he said, referring to Nigel Lawson who significantly cut taxes as chancellor under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

“The idea is to rebuild the Conservative brand as based on lower and fewer