George Osborne Rules out "Mansion Tax

Chancellor Osborne Rules Out 'Mansion Tax'


George Osborne says he is not prepared to accept a tax which "clobbers" people who have worked hard and saved to buy their home.


4:27am UK, Sunday 07 October 2012

George Osborne rejects 'mansion tax' call from the Liberal Democrats

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George Osborne has ruled out the idea of introducing a "mansion tax" - one of the Liberal Democrats' key demands.

The move is likely to prove highly popular with Conservative MPs - particularly on the party right - but will heighten tensions with their coalition partners.

The Lib Dems reacted with dismay when Mr Cameron used the veto to oppose the EU fiscal pact last December.

And they have continued to lobby Mr Osborne to adopt their plan for an annual levy on homes worth more than £2m which they first proposed in opposition.

However, Mr Osborne said he was not prepared to accept a tax which "clobbered" people who had worked hard and saved to buy their homes.

"We are not going to have a mansion tax or a new tax that is a percentage value of people's properties," he told The Mail On Sunday.

"Before the election they will call it a mansion tax, but people will wake up the day after the election and discover suddenly their more modest home has been labelled a mansion.

"We don't think people who have worked hard, saved up to buy a home, should be clobbered with a mansion tax."

Instead, he said the Government would be extending the council tax freeze for a third year in a row, while rises in regulated rail fares would be capped at retail price inflation plus 1%.

Cameron and Osborne both come from wealthy families and have no sympathy for the population facing hard times. They should be altering tax system whereby tax avoidance allows a person's property to registered in an off shore Company, so no Council Tax is paid.

At least the U.S.A. is doing something , Britain is doing nothing to stop these Tax dodgers and the Conservatives have lost all credibility over the way they have Governed , Cameron hasn't a hope in Hell of being re-elected, but I don't like the Labour Party either.