Clegg Could Ruffle Conservative Feathers With Tax Pledge.
Nick Clegg fuelled tensions today when he announced that the new Governments plans
for taxes would take the form of a rebalancing of the tax system rather than tax cuts. This would make the system fairer Clegg claims.
Tory backbenchers are already in arms about the plans to hike the capital gains tax and are trying to think of some way to prevent its passage.
Such comments as made by Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister merely illustrate the gulf between the him and the Prime Minister, David Cameron. It would appear that the honeymoon period is over for this marriage of convenience.
Nick Clegg has bee quoted as saying I am saying well rebalance the tax system. We are not making claims about the overall tax burden. The conservatives have always been ideologically in favour of a tax reduction and the Liberal Democrat party in favour of fairer taxes and the coalition agreement strongly emphasises the latter.
However, days earlier, David Cameron insisted that he was still a tax cutter meaning that this issue could become bitterly decisive.
There is already a growing outcry against the proposal to make the current capital gains tax rate of 18 per cent more in line with income tax rates. This could result in a rise to 40 or 50 per cent. The Liberal Democrats have also hinted at wanting to lower the threshold from the current 10,100 to 2,000. This has outraged Tory backbenchers.
If this coalition does fail and become uncooperative such important legal pledges like the Greater Repeal Bill and the introduction of better civil liberties protection, could seriously be undermined.
While the law may have escaped the noose of a hung parliament, it looks to be caught in an incompatible coalition.