- UK's Johnson baulks at Brexit cost as leadership race hots up
- Tearful May resigns, paving way for Brexit confrontation with EU
- May's Brexit gambit fails as her premiership fades
Tory leadership hopeful Boris Johnson has pledged to cut income taxes for citizens earning over £50,000 a year.
The MP for Uxbridge and former foreign secretary told the London Telegraph that he would raise the payment threshold for workers paying 40 percent from £50,000 to £80,000.
 |
| Boris Johnson. AP Photo. |
But the move would cost UK taxpayers roughly £9.6bn a year in lost revenues, with Johnson stating he has planned a contingency fund in the Treasury to pay for the aftermath of a no-deal Brexit.
Mr Johnson said that the UK "should be cutting corporation tax and other business taxes” and that "thresholds of income tax" to "help the huge numbers that have been captured in the higher rate by fiscal drag”.
“We can go for much greater economic growth – and still be the cleanest, greenest society on earth,” Johson said.
He added that his pledge would help raise funds for the £26.6bn allocated for a hard Brexit by Chancellor of the Exchequers Philip Hammond.
Mr Johnson had been rehired by the Daily Telegraph to write columns at a salary of £275,000 a year, for just ten hours of writing a month for his weekly column, according to the Guardian.
Mr. Johnson’s pledges come as several candidates – Health secretary Matt Hancock, Defra chief Michael Gove, former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, International Development secretary Rory Stewart, former Home secretary Amber Rudd, Home secretary Savid Javid and foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, among others – are contending for Theresa May’s position at Downing Street. Competitors have a deadline of 17:00 on Monday to enter the race and must receive backing from eight or more MPs to participate.
