Lib Dems scale back ‘Mansion Tax’ proposals

This is both ridiculous and iniquitous. Ridiculous because the new tax will not raise enough to fund more than a fraction of that required if the personal allowance is to rise to £10,000. Iniquitous because the value of a house is not a fair basis of taxation and it does not reflect the ability of the owner to pay. Most fair minded people would applaud the proposed £10,000 personal allowance but not the new tax. There is no need for a new tax, we simply need to raise rate of higher tax.

Bless the MP's. did one look at the figures and realise that a tax on properties over One Millions impact on too many of your fellow MP's and friends and family?

Argh bless....lets change that figure to those that are a little better well off....and charge them what would amount to the price of a packet of chewing gums...that will help the economy.

Muppets...the lot of them

What is iniquitous is heavily taxing the income of people with very little wealth whilst not taxing the wealth of the very well off.

Wealth taxes are much fairer than income taxes. Affordability is not an issue. An older peson with assets can always afford to pay tax - either selling some assets or borrowing against the security. A younger person with a family, high income and no wealth also has to borrow to pay tax and fund the house purchase.

I agree with David Evershed.

Someone unemployed and sitting in a multi-million pound mansion can get full benefits, but another unemployed person with just £8,000 pounds in the bank would get nothing as they'd be considered too rich.

Taxing income rather than assets prevents the less well off from building assets while helping the wealthy retain theirs. It's therefore fairer to tax assets.

And before someone starts talking about the affect on pensioners, please realise we have a choice whether to channel spare income into paying off a bigger mortgage on a bigger house or building a bigger pension. Is the pensioner in a mortgage free home worth £1 million but with only the state pension as income really poorer than the pensioner who pays rent on a council home but has a private pension annuity bringing in an extra £18,000 per annum? The first would get means tested benefits, the second would be heavily taxed.

Income tax is simply not a fair system.

Those correspondents who say tax assets not income and cite elderly pensioners in big houses as examples, should not forget they did not generally buy £1m + houses but much cheaper houses. They have had no say in the management of the economy in the way that has led to huge property price rises, and so now to consider taxing them because poor economic management has resulted in the value of their home passing a notional threshhold would be iniquitous.

In any case, how would a house be valued without a professional valuation costing some £thousands of pounds (surveyors charge a percentage of the value)? Who would pay? Not the householder surely as that would be double taxation and unfair.

Moreover, living in a 'valuable' house actually results in greater upkeep costs so impoverishing the person compared with someone in a smaller house. And we are talking here not in the abstract about 'property' but about peoples homes and families and living in quiet enjoyment there. This is actually a fundamental tenet of law and the proposal is likely to fail simply on this.

And value cannot be realised until property sale. How would you turn the assets of a pensioner in their home fairly into a tax payment when the person's income might be very low and a tax charge unaffordable? The FSA surely could not agree to a ponzi scheme whereby HMRC accepts equity release and all its downsides to provide cash to pay tax?

And, since the taxable value of a property could only be judged on a net basis (after mortgage loans) setting up a mortgage, or equity release for the elderly, could take a home out of the taxable bracket.

It's an uncollectable tax as well as distasteful. Another vote loser for the Lib Dems...

What planet do some people live on - how many live in a multi million pound mansion on a state pension or benefits?

A modest home in the SE will cost thousands a year to run even without a morgage.

While there is nowhere safe to put your money and Gorgon Brown is raiding your pockets and pension funds, bricks and mortar is one of very few options for some security in retirement.

Why not seize all property and issue food and clothing vouchers to the entire population - the 'you owe me a living' brigade would have nothing to covet and the few who create wealth can loaf around with the rest.

If all the pensioners have to sell their property to pay this tax - who will buy - not the people with income as they would end up paying the tax they had just dumped on someone else!!!!

Wealth taxes hit the prudent, and those whose assets have increased in value through market demand. House prices have gone through the roof just because everyone thought that buying a house was a good investment which would allow them to use it as a cash source for their lavish spending.

Those who promote taxing wealth are simply those without it, and do not recognise that many have gone without spending in order to accumulate wealth. Houses are just one example of wealth. Next we will have muppets advocating an extra tax on pension funds and savings.

It is far more equitable to tax income and spending. Yes - tax all those who have foreign holidays and buy new cars !!!! :-)

So if the "wealthy" do not spend their money, but instead invest it for the good of the country, and do not contribute towards the credit bubble we had, then perhaps they should be given more wealth ?? Rather like the parable of the foolish virgins?

Whilst my house is worth rather less than £1m, and thus I would not be affected, the whole concept is stupid. We should not base rates on house values in the first place, but charge people for the services they use or are likely to use - ie POLL TAX. It was a load of lefties who made Thatcher abandon this, despite the fact that benefits would reflect the cost per individual.

And the Lib Dems have been on about replacing rates with local income tax - so do they not understand the hypocrisy of their policies?