THE TELEGRAPH: Gordon Brown is only proposing to raise taxes for the better-paid to appeal to Labour's core voters, a former Labour Chancellor warns today.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Denis Healey says that the new higher rate of tax is likely to have little financial benefit as the wealthy will simply avoid the extra levy.
Mr Healey, 92, was Labour Chancellor during the economic crisis of the 1970s when the top-rate of tax was 83 per cent. Mr Brown has proposed introducing a new 45 percent top-rate of income tax in 2011 to help fund the cost of the cut in Vat.
However, when asked last week whether he believed the tax increase was designed to appeal to Labour's core voters, Mr Healey said: "I think probably so. Because what I learned as Chancellor were that the rich can nearly always find ways of avoiding tax that are legal, and in any case the amount raised is very small. And it does encourage people to leave the country." Gordon Brown Is Using Tax on Wealthy for Purely Political Reasons, Says Denis Healey >>> | Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
