Household Bills
Danny Alexander: Top rate tax cut ‘over my dead body’
Chief secretary to the Treasury – and Liberal Democrat – Danny Alexander has ruled out a further cut to the top rate of income tax before next year’s general election.
He said a reduction from the current rate of 45p “would happen over my dead body”.
The coalition government reduced the top rate from 50p to 45p last year, but many Liberal Democrat supporters were against the move.
Labour has pledged to raise the top rate, which is paid on incomes above £150,000, to 50p if it wins the next election.
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls declared that intention last month, but said the move would only be temporary and was not driven by an anti-business agenda.
In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Alexander said the 45p rate was the “right place to be”.
“I wouldn’t go to cutting below 45%,” he said. “I would say that would happen over my dead body. It’s clearer and simpler and better to say we are going to stick where we are. We have the 45p rate and that’s the right place to be.”
He added his party was focused on cutting taxes for working people by continuing to raise the level at which people start paying income tax.
