Govt hikes top income tax rate to 50% (England)

[thundley4]

The government will increase its top rate of income tax to a higher than expected 50 percent from next year, Chancellor Alistair Darling said on Wednesday as he delivered the government's annual budget.
The tax band had originally been due to rise to 45 percent from 40 percent in April 2011 as Britain seeks to claw back lost tax revenue caused by a deep recession.

The 50-percent rate will apply to any income above 150,000 pounds.


"In November, I announced a new rate of income tax of 45 percent on incomes above 150,000 pounds -- the top one percent of taxpayers," Darling said in his budget speech.

"In order to help pay for additional support for people now, I have decided that the new rate will be 50 percent and will come in from next April -- a year earlier.

Link

I can see this and worse happening here in the very near future.  The Dems are very adept at playing the "wealth envy" card. 

[bijou]

The only saving grace for us is that an election must be called to take place before June 2010, so the new tax rate will kick in in the run up to the election.  The Conservatives are around 10-15% ahead in the polls.

[DixieBelle]

^let's hope it stays that way.

What they don't realize is that excessive tax policies force earners to find creative ways to avoid paying too much. That oftens leads to the unintended consequences the DUmmies are always complaining about.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Good, we could use some more Anglo-Saxon immigrants.

[bijou]

By Andrew Porter, Political Editor
Last Updated: 9:34PM BST 23 Apr 2009

An exclusive YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph gives the Conservatives an 18 point lead. If the result was repeated at a general election Mr Cameron would be returned to Downing Street with a majority of more than 150.

...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/budget/5209960/David-Cameron-gets-Budget-bounce.html

 

[thundley4]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/budget/5209960/David-Cameron-gets-Budget-bounce.html

 

I'll admit that British politics confuses me, but I assume that is news that you like?   What is the difference between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrat? Here they would be pretty much the same.

[bijou]

I'll admit that British politics confuses me, but I assume that is news that you like?   What is the difference between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrat? Here they would be pretty much the same.

The Labour party are in essence a socialist party and began pretty much as the political arm of the unions (and they are still the party's main backers) Blair tried to move toward the centre with New Labour but the old party is back with a vengeance. The Lib Dems are hard to define (they formed in the 1980's by two parties - Liberals and the Social Democrat Party- joining together, fiscally they are leftist but much less authoritarian than Labour, however as a minor party they tend to try and win by locally making themselves most attractive to the prevailing opinion so in Labour areas they will appear more leftist than in conservative areas.  You would be hard pressed to find a person who could tell you what teh Lib Dems  stand for or what their policies are, they tend to be the recipient of protest votes in the main.

[thundley4]

The Labour party are in essence a socialist party and began pretty much as the political arm of the unions (and they are still the party's main backers) Blair tried to move toward the centre with New Labour but the old party is back with a vengeance. The Lib Dems are hard to define (they formed in the 1980's by two parties - Liberals and the Social Democrat Party- joining together, fiscally they are leftist but much less authoritarian than Labour, however as a minor party they tend to try and win by locally making themselves most attractive to the prevailing opinion so in Labour areas they will appear more leftist than in conservative areas.  You would be hard pressed to find a person who could tell you what teh Lib Dems  stand for or what their policies are, they tend to be the recipient of protest votes in the main.

That helps some. The Lib Dems have something in common with the Libertarians here, no one knows just what they stand for.

The only saving grace for us is that an election must be called to take place before June 2010, so the new tax rate will kick in in the run up to the election.  The Conservatives are around 10-15% ahead in the polls.

Does this mean that you don't have scheduled permanent dates for elections?

[bijou]

Does this mean that you don't have scheduled permanent dates for elections?

That's right, they have to be at least every 5 years, but it is up to the governing party to choose the timing.