Thursday, January 14, 2016
Labour MP proposes mansion tax for party members
You have to be fair to Labour MPs, they are happy to take the pain they want to inflict on others, in this case, the mansion tax proposed by both my party and theirs.
The Guardian reports that John Mann, who represents Bassetlaw, has suggested that Labour Party members who own property worth more than £1m should be charged a membership fee of £1,000:
Writing on his website, Mann said: “Hidden from the discussion of Labour’s big increase in membership is any analysis of who has joined as fee-paying individual members, but a deeper examination will show that it is overwhelmingly the middle classes who are joining.”
The MP claimed that on one street in the Labour leader’s constituency of Islington North, populated by owner-occupiers in multimillion-pound houses, 40 people had joined the party over a 12-week period.
Mann suggested that the new members could help avert a funding crisis that would come if the government’s trade union bill passes. A confidential Labour document released to the Guardian last week revealed that the party faces an expected £6m drop in its annual income as a result of the changes to the political levy being introduced in the bill.
Mr. Mann has been an outspoken critic of Jeremy Corbyn in the past. However, for once his thinking seems to chime with the redistributive instincts of the new Labour leader.
The Guardian reports that John Mann, who represents Bassetlaw, has suggested that Labour Party members who own property worth more than £1m should be charged a membership fee of £1,000:
Writing on his website, Mann said: “Hidden from the discussion of Labour’s big increase in membership is any analysis of who has joined as fee-paying individual members, but a deeper examination will show that it is overwhelmingly the middle classes who are joining.”
The MP claimed that on one street in the Labour leader’s constituency of Islington North, populated by owner-occupiers in multimillion-pound houses, 40 people had joined the party over a 12-week period.
Mann suggested that the new members could help avert a funding crisis that would come if the government’s trade union bill passes. A confidential Labour document released to the Guardian last week revealed that the party faces an expected £6m drop in its annual income as a result of the changes to the political levy being introduced in the bill.
Mr. Mann has been an outspoken critic of Jeremy Corbyn in the past. However, for once his thinking seems to chime with the redistributive instincts of the new Labour leader.
