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Tax the rich? This issue could split the coalition
First Reaction: how to tax the rich has become the most divisive issue in British politics
Billionaires and tycoons in the US and France, led by the super-investor Warren Buffett, have called for the rich to pay higher taxes, but Britain's rich aren't so keen to hand over their money. Here, the tax wars are just beginning.
Where are our responsible rich? Where is Britain's Warren Buffett or Liliane Bettencourt? asks Polly Toynbee in the Guardian. Here, Chancellor George Osborne hints at cutting the 50p top tax rate and has just struck a deal with Swiss banks that will allow tax dodgers to stay anonymous.
Only recently, David Cameron condemned rioters for "a complete lack of responsibility" and feeling "that their rights outweigh their responsibilities and that their actions do not have consequences".
The same could equally apply to the mega-rich, writes Toynbee, "but Britain lacks a Buffett or a Bettencourt to bring the rich back into the responsible society, to reel in their soaring separation from the rest".
It could split the coalition. The issue could be the one to split the coalition government, says Mary Riddell in the Daily Telegraph. That's because the Lib Dems are seeking "defining causes" and wealth is the obvious target. "Fairer taxes, always a core crusade, is now at the top of the agenda."
Nick Clegg and Co will be "keeping the Tories' feet to the fire" on lifting the tax-free threshold for low income earners, says Riddell, and resisting attempts to scrap the 50 per cent tax rate for high-income earners. "The Tory/Lib-Dem marriage, undertaken with vows to stick together, for richer and for poorer, may - like many other unions - end in bitter wrangling over money."
Steve Richards in the Independent can't remember a period since 1992 when the politics of taxation has been so highly charged and potentially divisive. Unlike most policies, "the tensions within the coalition over tax are not easily resolved".
Nick Clegg was the only leader at the last election to openly deploy the term "redistribution" in relation to taxes. If he doesn't actually oppose Osborne's plan to reduce the top rate, says Richards, he's likely to seek other forms of wealth taxes to compensate.
It's simple - the rich must pay more. Maurice Levy in the Financial Times says he is not a masochist but the rich must pay more. Europe is living beyond its means. Cuts in public spending will affect the middle class and less advantaged.
"It seems to me only fair that the most privileged members of our society should take up a heavier share of this national burden. So I call for an additional tax on the rich." Levy adds: "I do not love taxes. But right now this is important and just." ·
