The UK’s wealthiest people could be asked to pay more tax for a limited period, under a suggestion from the Deputy Prime Minister. He said people of ‘very considerable’ wealth should contribute more in order to preserve social cohesion.

Nick Clegg was being interviewed by the Guardian newspaper ahead of the Liberal Democrats’ annual conference. He suggested new taxes should be drawn up going beyond his party’s existing proposal to impose a ‘mansion tax’ on properties worth more than £2 million. The new tax would also fall on wealth, rather than income. He said:

‘If we are going to ask people for more sacrifices over a longer period of time, a longer period of belt tightening as a country, then we just have to make sure that people see it is being done as fairly and as progressively as possible... The action is making sure that very high asset wealth is reflected in the tax system in the way that it isn’t now.’

Source: The Guardian, 29 August 2012
Links: Guardian report | BBC report | Telegraph report