At long last, Ed Miliband delivered us a Valentine’s Day present that everyone in the political world has been waiting for: a new policy! And a tax policy at that!
Not just content with maintaining support for a temporary VAT cut, reversing the Coalition’s tax credit restraint and reversing the 50p tax rate cut (all of which would worsen the deficit), the Labour leader has nailed his colours to a new mast. He wants to bring back the 10p rate of income tax, which his former boss Gordon Brown abolished, paid for by a mansion tax on homes worth £2 million.
Now, there are many observations which can made about this.
First, this is a huge u-turn for Miliband personally. Back in 2008, after the budget where the 10p rate was abolished, he said:
‘When you make a big set of changes in the tax system, some people do lose out. That is a matter of regret.
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