Friday, January 09, 2015
Labour MPs split over Mansion Tax
According to the Times, Ed Miliband's travails over policy has continued into the new year with his MPs badly split over one of his flagship policies.
The paper says that an anonymous poll has shown that 2 out of 5 Labour MPs have doubts about their party's proposed Mansion Tax, with 39 per cent of Labour MPs saying that introducing additional council tax bands would be a “better way” to tax high- value homes. Only 56 per cent favoured introducing the mansion tax, which would be applied annually to properties worth more than £2 million:
Mr Miliband has already been urged publicly by senior Labour figures to abandon the plan and introduce new bands of council tax instead.
Tessa Jowell, the former cabinet minister, and Margaret Hodge, who chairs the public accounts committee, are among those calling for a rethink. Earlier this week Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, described the mansion tax as an “absurd proposition”.
The Labour leadership remains confident that the policy is popular with voters. Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has already said that “asset rich, cash poor” homeowners would be spared the tax, instead having it deducted from their estate when they die.
The ComRes poll, commissioned by the British Property Federation, found that 69 per cent of all MPs believed that additional council tax bands were a better way to reform annual property taxes than the introduction of a mansion tax.
Ian Fletcher, director of policy at the BPF, warned that a mansion tax was a “political gimmick” that was “about the narrative of rich versus the rest”.
“There is a better alternative to a mansion tax, and reforming council tax through a revaluation and raising revenue through adding more council tax bands, would restore fairness . . . and be better for the country,” he said.
“If 40 per cent of our members weren’t in support of a policy we were pursuing, I would be listening and considering the alternatives and can only hope Labour do the same.”
If Miliband cannot convince his own party then what chance does he have of persuading the British public to back the proposal?
The paper says that an anonymous poll has shown that 2 out of 5 Labour MPs have doubts about their party's proposed Mansion Tax, with 39 per cent of Labour MPs saying that introducing additional council tax bands would be a “better way” to tax high- value homes. Only 56 per cent favoured introducing the mansion tax, which would be applied annually to properties worth more than £2 million:
Mr Miliband has already been urged publicly by senior Labour figures to abandon the plan and introduce new bands of council tax instead.
Tessa Jowell, the former cabinet minister, and Margaret Hodge, who chairs the public accounts committee, are among those calling for a rethink. Earlier this week Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, described the mansion tax as an “absurd proposition”.
The Labour leadership remains confident that the policy is popular with voters. Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has already said that “asset rich, cash poor” homeowners would be spared the tax, instead having it deducted from their estate when they die.
The ComRes poll, commissioned by the British Property Federation, found that 69 per cent of all MPs believed that additional council tax bands were a better way to reform annual property taxes than the introduction of a mansion tax.
Ian Fletcher, director of policy at the BPF, warned that a mansion tax was a “political gimmick” that was “about the narrative of rich versus the rest”.
“There is a better alternative to a mansion tax, and reforming council tax through a revaluation and raising revenue through adding more council tax bands, would restore fairness . . . and be better for the country,” he said.
“If 40 per cent of our members weren’t in support of a policy we were pursuing, I would be listening and considering the alternatives and can only hope Labour do the same.”
If Miliband cannot convince his own party then what chance does he have of persuading the British public to back the proposal?
