No Money Back, No Guarantee

There was supposed to be no increase in income tax last time. We now have, not only the fourth General Election in a row in which both parties are committed to the existing rates of income tax, but the first of those four in which one of those rates has in fact gone up (quite considerably) since the last time. So much for Opposition.

In 1992, the Tories also promised no increase in the scope or rate of VAT. They didn't stick to it, but they were in those days, if not also now, heavily influenced by a certain philosophy of taxation, favouring the indirect over the direct. Still, Labour went to town, and understandably so. Now, however, we find a Labour Manifesto - as Neil Kinnock might have put it, "a Labour Manifesto" - promising not to raise income tax while refusing to rule out any increase in VAT.

So, how could a Labour Opposition oppose a Tory Government if, as when Cameron was last anywhere near the running of these things, it sought to put up VAT while leaving income tax alone?