George Osborne poised to slash top tax rate from 50p to 40p

[oldironside]

George Osborne is poised to slash the top rate of income tax from 50p to 40p in next week's budget in a dramatic move that will delight business and the Tory right, but risks reinforcing the Conservatives' reputation as protectors of the super-rich.

With the four senior ministers in the budget discussions due to speak on Friday and a final meeting scheduled for Monday, the Liberal Democrats appear to recognise that they are not going to be able to block what is Osborne's key demand for the budget, but are trying to maximise the concessions they can extract in return.

Government sources say that from the outset the chancellor has seen a cut in the 50p rate as the headline-grabbing measure of the budget, and views it as the simplest single step he can take to show his commitment to an enterprise economy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/15/george-osborne-top-tax-rate

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Fleet street canary wharf crowd must be celebrating.

I'm sure they will compensate with the obligatory cuts to NHS.

[T_i_B]

2. We can kiss goodbye to deficit reduction then

It's highly unlikely that the upper class twits who will benefit from this will be spashing the cash as a result of this.

And any alternative measures to appease the Liberal Democrats may well be very little and not enough to counterbalance George Osbourne's class warfare.