Explore Candidates → United Kingdom → Labour Party on Economy
Labour Party on Economy
Labour proposed a 'deficit reduction bill' in the November 2009 Queen's Speech which would make it a statutory requirement for the government to cut the budget deficit by half by 2014.
Alistair Darling admitted that Labour\'s planned cuts in public spending will be \"deeper and tougher\" than Margaret Thatcher\'s in the 1980s, as the country\'s leading experts on tax and spending warned that Britain faces \"two parliaments of pain\" to repair the black hole in the state\'s finances.
Beginning April 2010, a new higher tax rate of 50% will be applied to incomes over £150,000 a year, as previously announced. This will raise about £2.4bn by 2011-12.
Alistair Darling has announced that stamp duty on £1 million homes will rise to pay for a stamp duty cut for first-time buyers
MacIntyre Hudson concurs that Labour will adopt and extend this move, creating a Continental style 'Wealth Tax'.
Jeffrey Cuthbert says that a 0.5% tax on assets over £1m, except ISAs, pensions and other tax exempt assets, could be introduced.
"The narrowing of the gap is a result partly of voters’ enthusiasm for the 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses above £25,000 announced in last week’s [Labour Party] pre-budget report."
"A City 'super tax' Chancellor Alistair Darling is preparing a plan to appease public anger over sky-high City pay that will see bankers pay a 60% tax on their earnings. Government sources confirmed that options for Wednesday's Pre-Budget Report include a levy on bankers who receive bonuses over a certain level. City insiders said they were braced for a 60% super-tax rate and predicted an exodus of high earners from Britain. Another possibility is an increase in the employer's National Insurance charge on banks that pay big bonuses."
"Mr Brown insisted that a failure of regulation, rather than the mixing of the high street and 'casino' arms of banks, was to blame for the near collapse of the sector."
"Prime Minister Gordon Brown has dismissed a suggestion by Bank of England Governor Mervyn King to split the retail and investment divisions of banks. Mr Brown insisted that a failure of regulation, rather than the mixing of the high street and 'casino' arms of banks, was to blame for the near collapse of the sector."
"Shortly after coming to power in 1997, Mr Brown created a new "tripartite" system of regulation, sharing responsibility for the financial system between the FSA, the Bank and the Treasury…"
"Mr Brown has been under pressure to admit that the system he designed failed, but has consistently refused to do so"
"Supporting businesses so they come through the downturn stronger is integral for our future economic success. Working with banks, Labour is providing loan guarantees to businesses to help them get the credit they need. And to ease pressure on businesses up and down the country, we are allowing them to defer their tax payments on a timetable that they can afford."