News from The Labour Party

Mansion tax muddle is typical of the Lib Dems

Following a campaign by Lib Dem MPs in wealthier London suburbs, the Lib Dems now say they would raise the mansion tax threshold from £1m to £2m. The Lib Dems have been unable to convincingly say how they’ll work out the value of people’s homes that aren’t being sold. The available figures on sales show relatively small number of houses worth over £2m. According to the latest Land Registry figures, there were just 86 properties in the whole of England and Wales that were bought for £2m or more (July 2009).

In addition the Lib Dems have underestimated the cost of their headline tax policy of raising Personal Allowances to £10,000 by over £5bn. They have claimed this costs only £16.5 billion. But figures already available on the Treasury website [pdf] show that increasing the personal allowance from around £6500 to £10,000 next year would cost over £22bn.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry MP, Labour’s Exchequer Minister for the Treasury, commenting on the Lib Dem tax muddle, said:

“Their mansion tax muddle is typical of the Lib Dems. Because they are trying to face both ways, their plans keep falling apart.

“They’ve made a complete mess of costing their proposals. The only thing that is consistent is that their sums don’t add up.”

Other news from The Labour Party

• Miliband tells Cameron: Save 6,000 nurses by abandoning NHS reorganisation now - 5 February 2012
• "We need what you might call 'one nation banking'" - 3 February 2012
• Burnham: "Mental health must move from the edges to the centre of the NHS" - 31 January 2012