Vince Cable continues public campaign for a mansion tax

Perhaps Vince Cable wasn’t listening to the bit in George Osborne’s speech at the Tory conference last week where the Chancellor ruled out a mansion tax. The Business Secretary has just sent an email out promoting the idea and calling for signatures on a petition for ‘fairer tax’. The email, which is signed ‘Thank you, Vince Cable MP’, says:

Our system of taxation is both unfair and inefficient. People on modest incomes are paying their fair share of tax while the super rich can too easily avoid paying their share. It is a particular scandal that some of the world’s wealthiest people who own property in the UK worth millions pay virtually the same council tax as owners of a modest family home. I want to change this – I want a new ‘mansion tax’ on the most valuable properties – we propose 1% of the value of over £2million. This will be paid by the wealthiest 0.16%