Entrepreneurs will be discouraged by the changes to national insurance, industry bodies have argued GETTY IMAGESPhilip Hammond was right to break a “foolish” manifesto commitment and raise taxes on the self-employed, a respected economics watchdog said yesterday. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) came to the aid of the chancellor, saying that his decision to increase national insurance contributions from the selfemployed was a small but welcome change. Paul Johnson, the IFS director, criticised George Osborne’s “silly pledges” on tax in 2015 that were causing political grief for his successor as chancellor. The Tory manifesto commitment to hold income tax, national insurance and VAT at the same levels as 2015 “ties your hands to an absurd extent”, he said. Support from the IFS will come as scant relief to Mr Hammond, who is facing anger from Tory MPs.

Source: The Times March 10, 2017 00:00 UTC