Andrew Love
Main Page: Andrew Love (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton)Department Debates - View all Andrew Love's debates with the HM Treasury
(12 years, 8 months ago)
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Mr Gauke
My hon. Friend makes a good point about our more deliberative and consultative process for tax policy making, and some of the announcements in the Budget yesterday were the culmination of a long process of consultation, for example the reforms of controlled foreign companies, which have been widely welcomed. As a corporate tax regime, ours is increasingly recognised around the world, and I am delighted that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) pointed out earlier, we had the announcement from GlaxoSmithKline this morning.
Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)
How does the Minister explain the headline on Wednesday morning in the Financial Times—it could have been any of the major newspapers—which stated: “Osborne in tax grab on top-end property”? The article went on confidently to assert that the duty would be 7% on properties priced at £2 million and above. Surely that was a leak. If it was not, what was it and what will he do about it?
Mr Gauke
I do not believe that the figure of 7% came from the Treasury, but we also ought to recognise that in last year’s Budget the Chancellor made it clear that we were looking at getting more money from those owning high-end properties, so it should not have come as a complete surprise that there was an announcement along those lines in the Budget yesterday.