Voters want lower taxes but politicians are stuck in the 90s

An excellent article by Tim Montgomerie, editor of ConservativeHome, in the Guardian contains this priceless quote:

"The consensus on tax within the political establishment isn't matched by the population at large. The same YouGov poll (pdf) that found strong support for David Cameron's Conservatives found even greater support for tax reduction: 67% of all voters said that the government should tax less and spend less and 20% said the tax and spending mix was about right. Only 8% of Labour supporters want more tax and spend, but our political leaders are deaf to these new facts. They are still living in the 1990s, when voters thought Britain was underspending. I imagine Cameron, Brown and Clegg going home to watch This Life DVDs and to listen to Portishead. They are all out of step with the new mood of voters. Voters want a refund from a political establishment that has wasted much of the extra taxes that have been paid."

Comments

[James Rowling]

Portishead were an excellent band - dark, menancing, broody... a bit like the Taxpayers Alliance I suppose. Personally I'd be delighted if our political leaders had some decent taste in music.

My favourite time in music in 1989 when Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and the Stone Roses put out great albums, whilst (or indeed inspite) of the Tories butchering the country.

[W.S.Becket]

Politicians are certainly stuck in the 90s - the 1790's. What we have at Westminster are a new breed of aristocrats who pay themselves on such a generous scale that they haven't the remotest idea of what a 10% increase in council tax or 10 pence on a pint means to the average voter.
If we were French, the tumbrils would be rolling.