Monday, December 28, 2009
Cameron's potted plants underline the difference
David Cameron has been at it again, claiming that differences between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are now "a lot less than in the past". He said: "Let's be honest that whether you're Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat, you're motivated by pretty much the same progressive aims: a country that is safer, fairer, greener and where opportunity is more equal. It's how to achieve these aims that we disagree about and indeed between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats there is a lot less disagreement than there used to be."
For me one of the chief differences between the Liberal Democrats and the Tories is that we want take 4 million people on low incomes out of income tax altogether, whereas the Tories are proposing to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £2 million, saving 18 millionaire members of the shadow cabinet up to £520,000 each as well as benefiting many other wealthy people. That shows that we understand what fairness means, whilst the Tories do not.
We are also committed to individual liberties and human rights, an agenda the Tories only pay lip service to as is evidenced in their proposals to ban extremists from broadcasting their views and engaging in protests.
However for anybody who is still confused here is a video that demonstrates the difference vividly. It is of a key Conservative candidate who reflects the views of many in his party that he is a member of the ruling class with a God-given right to be in Government and that as far as he is concerned the rest of us are just potted plants.
For me one of the chief differences between the Liberal Democrats and the Tories is that we want take 4 million people on low incomes out of income tax altogether, whereas the Tories are proposing to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £2 million, saving 18 millionaire members of the shadow cabinet up to £520,000 each as well as benefiting many other wealthy people. That shows that we understand what fairness means, whilst the Tories do not.
We are also committed to individual liberties and human rights, an agenda the Tories only pay lip service to as is evidenced in their proposals to ban extremists from broadcasting their views and engaging in protests.
However for anybody who is still confused here is a video that demonstrates the difference vividly. It is of a key Conservative candidate who reflects the views of many in his party that he is a member of the ruling class with a God-given right to be in Government and that as far as he is concerned the rest of us are just potted plants.
Comments:
<< Home
A very simple question, but one which a lot of Liberal Democrat and Labour people don't seem to have asked:
What is the present threshold for inheritance tax?
The answer=£325,000
How is raising the threshold and taking many family homes out of IHT just "benefiting many other wealthy people"?
What is the present threshold for inheritance tax?
The answer=£325,000
How is raising the threshold and taking many family homes out of IHT just "benefiting many other wealthy people"?
Any suggestion that the Liberal Democrats would form an alliance with Labour in the event of a hung parliament would deter many people across the British Isles from voting Lib Dem at the General Election.
(see my Blog - Independence Cymru)
(see my Blog - Independence Cymru)
I am stating the facts. Raising the threshold to £2 million will help the wealthy and do nothing for the poorest in our society. It is an object lesson in where Tory priorities lie.
Which is why Alan the Liberal Democrats have said that they will abide with the will of the British people *if* there should be a hung Parliament, in deciding what our role in it will be.
Maybe the difference between us and them is that they are so out of touch with ordinary people that they think £325,000 isn't a lot of money.
I live in a family home in London, and it wouldn't sell for anything like that. Remembering that inheritance tax is paid only on the amount above the threshhold, even for those who have a house worth a bit more than that, it wouldn't seriously hit even people living in quite big houses round here.
I'd rather have less tax on people working hard to have enough to be able to buy such a house, than less tax on those getting it for nothing more than having the right set of parents. If those people standing to inherit it NEED the property, well, they could pay life insurance against early death and have an endowment policy to pay the tax - and they'd still be much better off than those who also need it but must pay their own way. If they don't need it - why on earth is it so bad to tax them on what is just a windfall dollop of cash? As we must tax soem things this seems a better thing to tax than most.
The Tories and other people living in that separate world of the super-rich where £325,000 is a piddling amount of money just can't see that. Their hired men in the media too often try to make out that this is "middle England" levels when it isn't - it's way above the median. It's wealth from people who can damn well afford to pay more tax, particularly when others are suffering because house prices are pushed beyond their means.
I live in a family home in London, and it wouldn't sell for anything like that. Remembering that inheritance tax is paid only on the amount above the threshhold, even for those who have a house worth a bit more than that, it wouldn't seriously hit even people living in quite big houses round here.
I'd rather have less tax on people working hard to have enough to be able to buy such a house, than less tax on those getting it for nothing more than having the right set of parents. If those people standing to inherit it NEED the property, well, they could pay life insurance against early death and have an endowment policy to pay the tax - and they'd still be much better off than those who also need it but must pay their own way. If they don't need it - why on earth is it so bad to tax them on what is just a windfall dollop of cash? As we must tax soem things this seems a better thing to tax than most.
The Tories and other people living in that separate world of the super-rich where £325,000 is a piddling amount of money just can't see that. Their hired men in the media too often try to make out that this is "middle England" levels when it isn't - it's way above the median. It's wealth from people who can damn well afford to pay more tax, particularly when others are suffering because house prices are pushed beyond their means.
We are told that Britain is one of the five richest countries in the world but, on looking around at infrastructure and society, I just can't see it, can you?
Post a Comment
<< Home
