It’s not been a good week for wealthier members of British society.
We’ve seen Labour pledge to reintroduce the 50p rate of income tax for those earning £150,000 and above, should they get elected next year.
This was rather cynically introduced shortly before the last General Election, cut to 45% last April by the coalition government.
Labour argues that those earning more than £150,000 should pay more, which of course they already do and would continue to do so even if a flat rate of income tax was introduced for all levels of earnings.
We also had the rather odd objective of Labour to ‘balance the books’ should they ever be trusted with the economy again; which can only mean higher taxes as there is no way ‘Red Ed’ would be prepared to slash the welfare budget or the size of the public sector.
Now we see the Lib Dems threatening to raid pensions tax relief and introduce their much vaunted ‘mansion tax’ on property wealth.
According to a report in The Independent, the Liberals would seek to cut the lifetime allowance on pensions from £1.25m to £1m, raising an estimated £2bn a year.
They also plan to introduce a mansion tax on property worth more than £2m and £5m, also expected to raise a further £2bn.
Perhaps the scariest outcome for higher earners, who already make a substantial contribution to the British economy and taxes, would be a Lib/Lab coalition government next year, introducing higher income tax rates, lower pension tax reliefs and wealth taxes.
Politicians talk a good game about ‘hard working families’ and ‘fairness’. In reality, they want your money – as much of it as possible.
