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So business leaders want lower taxes?

We've got a clutch of now joining the procession of business critics of the plans to increase national insurance contributions (NICs).

Clearly, this plays big because it's become a major dividing line between the parties vying to form the next UK government.

The Lib Dems have defended Labour's decision in criticism of Conservatives, and the SNP has opposed the NIC increase, in line with the Tories.

The way it's been portrayed has suggested Tories are gaining business support.

That's sort of half true.

It's more like the Conservatives have aligned themselves with a position that business had already taken - quite vociferously and without any obvious political motivation - after the NICs increase was announced.

Two big questions arise.

Are the Conservatives on the right side of the argument? And how much difference does it make for a party contesting an election to have the support of business leaders?

The strength of the argument against the NICs increase is that it can be argued it's a 'tax on jobs'.

This is not business arguing against the bank bonus tax or the new 50 pence top rate for earnings over £150,000.

Yes, they complain about those as well, but most in business and Tory strategists can see that arguing for reversal of those measures would risk unpopularity.

NICs, on the contrary, represent a direct tax on payroll, and a disincentive for job creation.

On the backfoot

The counter-argument deployed by Labour is that this is one of those unpalatable measures the country is going to have to accept if its public finances are to be brought under control, and that the introduction is being delayed until next year, when growth should have been more firmly re-established.

The exchanges this week have put Labour on the backfoot, while Tories hope the momentum that has eluded them in recent weeks may have turned back in their favour.

But Conservatives have a tricky task now of squaring a circle of their own design: a reversal of a tax increase, while being toughest on the deficit, and claiming the NICs reversal can be paid for with more efficiencies when they themselves have conceded there has been over-reliance on the claims of what efficiency can deliver.

Tainted brand

How much difference can this make? The support for a party's policies of the captains of industry can be welcome, if they bring credibility.

But it's notable that nobody seems to be seeking the support of financiers in this dispute, as the bank brand is rather tainted.

It's worth asking: from a voters point of view, how much credibility does business have?

In 1997, the business support for Labour was a signal that a tainted party brand had been changed.

It's less clear that anyone doubts there is significant support for Conservatives in senior business circles, so they have less power to influence voters into thinking the party has changed.

In 2007, the SNP, with no experience in government, had the same task that Labour had in the 1990s, in finding outsiders to underscore their credibility.

Big business endorsements were all the more important in that campaign.

Sir George Mathewson, ex-chairman and chief executive of RBS (in days when that meant rather more prestige), and former Scottish Enterprise chief Crawford Beveridge, came out for independence.

Another former SE chief executive, Robert Crawford, became an SNP candidate, and Stagecoach's Brian Souter weighed in with a £500,000 campaign donation.

Together, they built the message of credibility and the sequence of their announcement effectively built campaign momentum.

Weighty support

But in the current election debate, there's a challenge that can be thrown back to business.

It argues against NICs, and it complains (with less prominence) about the new tax disincentives to high earners.

Business is to the fore in demanding that public spending should be brought under control.

Yet look at the list of tax breaks and spending programmes that business is simultaneously demanding.

Last Wednesday, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce launched the manifesto it would like to see adopted, most of the measures in line with other business organisations, including opposition to the NICs increase.

The list of transport projects alone was huge.

As a lobby group, business can bring weighty support and credibility to a political party. But it needs to be consistent as well.