Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

In the Budget in which we reduced the 50p rate to 45p, we introduced measures that raised five times more from the wealthiest people, including, for example, the annual tax on enveloped dwellings, which is a mansion tax for tax dodgers in respect of people from overseas who own properties in this country. It raised five times more than we expected at the time.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T5. I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the slow but steady progress on improving the economy. Does he agree that the most important thing now is to ensure that people have more money in their pockets to spend as they wish and that therefore the threshold for the 40% rate of tax needs to be increased so that middle earners can see the benefit of this Government?