29 August 2012
Last updated at 12:12 GMT
Rich should pay more tax - Clegg
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg suggests the wealthiest people
in the UK could be asked to pay more tax for a limited period.
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Income tax 'not very effective'29 August 2012 Last updated at 12:08 GMT
Wealthy should pay more tax, says Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg said fairness was essential to making austerity measures a success
Nick Clegg has suggested the UK's wealthiest people could be asked to pay more tax for a limited period.The deputy prime minister said that "to remain cohesive and prosperous as a society" those of "very considerable" wealth should contribute more.
He added that greater fairness was part of a "longer economic war".
But Labour said Mr Clegg was taking British people "for fools" and the chancellor said he did not want to "drive away the wealth creators".
In his interview with the Guardian newspaper, Mr Clegg also hinted at a return to cabinet for former Treasury minister David Laws.
Liberal Democrat Mr Laws resigned as chief secretary to the Treasury two years ago after admitting he claimed expenses to pay his partner rent.
'Belt tightening' "I have never made any secret of the fact that I want to see David Laws back in government," Mr Clegg said.
He also promised the coalition would stand by its commitment not to build a third runway at Heathrow despite growing calls from Tory MPs for a change of heart.
In the interview, Mr Clegg called for a "time-limited contribution" from the richest in society beyond his party's current policy for a "mansion tax" - taxes on properties above a certain value.
"In addition to our standing policy on things like the mansion tax, is there a time-limited contribution you can ask in some way or another from people of considerable wealth so they feel they are making a contribution to the national effort?" he said.
Mr Clegg said fairness was key to the next steps in tackling the "longer economic war".
"While I am proud of some of the things we have done as a government I actually think we need to really hard-wire fairness into what we do in the next phases of fiscal restraint," he said.
"If we don't do that I don't think the process will be either socially or politically sustainable or acceptable."
'Failing plan' During a visit to Sunderland, Chancellor George Osborne said: "I am clear that the wealthy should pay more, which is why in the recent Budget I increased the tax on very expensive property transactions.George Osborne: "I don't want to drive wealth creators away"
"But we also have to be careful as a country we don't drive away the wealth creators and the businesses that are going to lead our economic recovery."
For Labour, shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie said: "Nick Clegg is once again taking the British people for fools. He talks about a tax on the wealthiest, but he voted for the tax cut for millionaires in George Osborne's Budget.
"And he has supported a failing economic plan which has pushed Britain into a double-dip recession and is leading to borrowing going up by a quarter so far this year."
Senior Tory backbencher Bernard Jenkin, who chairs the Commons Public Administration Committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If the politics of envy made a country rich, we would be a very rich country.
"I think most rich people are contributing far more in tax than other people.
"I know this is not a fashionable view, but if you go on raising tax on rich people - and that's why, in agreement with Nick Clegg we have had to cut the top rate of tax from 50p to 45p - you drive wealth abroad.
"This is a pre-conference, easy-clap line."
Conservative MP Mary Macleod told the BBC she did not think Mr Clegg's idea would be implemented.
"This is Nick Clegg saying let's try out a few ideas before party conference, probably will cheer up a few Lib Dems to talk about it. But it isn't government policy," she said.
Discussions about tax and spending will take place before the chancellor's autumn statement.
Liberal Democrat House of Lords Treasury spokeswoman Baroness Kramer said Mr Clegg's proposals were not yet party policy, but would be discussed at the annual conference in Brighton next month.
She told Today: "I would be very surprised if those ideas are not then shared at the cabinet level."
But she added: "This has got to be worked through."
COPY : http://www.bbc.co.uk/
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