News from Labour Matters

Secret Conservative plan to give tax breaks (to themselves) revealed

They wanted to keep it secret, but on the day that Labour unveiled help for hard-pressed home-owners The Telegraph revealed a Conservative plan to give tax breaks for a few people sitting in homes worth between £1m and £2m.

The Conservatives would have kept their plans secret if it weren’t for an inquisitive Daily Telegraph reader who pushed for details of their policy to increase the Inheritance Tax threshold if they win the next general election. Instead, details of a private plan to more than treble the existing allowance for married couples – and only married couples – was splashed all over the newspaper’s front page.

The Conservatives were left red-faced after the Tory-supporting paper reported that:

“Tory leaders have avoided publicising the fact that the £1 million allowance would be transferable. Insiders say they were concerned that the disclosure could focus further attention on the party’s economic plans and raise questions about how a Tory chancellor would pay for the tax cut.

“Mr Osborne has pledged to fund the IHT move through a £25,000 levy on ‘non-domiciled’ wealthy individuals in Britain. A similar move by Mr Darling this year triggered a huge political backlash and forced the Treasury to water down its plans.”

Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commenting on reports in today’s Daily Telegraph of new Tory inheritance tax proposals, told Labour Matters:

“When hard working families are facing real pressure, how on earth can the Tories justify more tax cuts for millionaires?

“David Cameron has clearly tried to hide this but now we know the Tories’ priority is to give money to a few thousand of the wealthiest estates in the country.

“This blows away any pretence by the Tories to be the party of fairness. On the day Labour is unveiling proposals to help first time buyers and those struggling with their mortgages, the Tories are talking about tax breaks for the wealthiest few.”

Among those wealthy few are the majority of the Conservative front-bench. 19 out of the 29 members of the Conservative shadow cabinet are millionaires, and a certain winner is the current Conservative Chairman, Caroline Spelman, who is reported to be worth £1.5m and therefore relatively poor compared to her Conservative colleagues.

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