Posted on 05/18/2010 7:13:33 AM PDT by reaganaut1
The Prime Minister suggested that second homes deserved to be hit by increased capital gains taxes because such properties were not ''splendid'' for the economy.
Mr Cameron also confirmed he had been forced to ditch a number of Conservative policies to enlist the Liberal Democrats in a coalition Government, and conceded that he would lose some traditional Tory supporters as a result.
He defended the change in policy, which is expected to see capital gains tax (CGT) for second-home owners and shareholders rise from 18 per cent towards 40 or even 50 per cent. It is designed to pay for a Lib Dem plan to reduce income tax for the low paid.
Under the terms of the coalition agreement, the Conservatives have dropped plans to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million. Mr Cameron confirmed that he was likely to give way to Lib Dem demands that middle-income families be stripped of child tax credits.
In sentiments likely to irritate the Right of his party, he suggested that higher capital gains taxes were justified as part of the "fairness agenda".
Asked if the CGT plans were a betrayal of "hardworking, Conservative families", Mr Cameron said entrepreneurs would be protected from the tax, but that second-home owners should expect to pay more. "There is a very big difference between the capital gains that someone pays on, say, a second home – which is not necessarily a splendid investment for the whole economy – there's a difference between that and actual investment in business assets," he said.
"So we've said that we're going to look at a different rate between those two things and that helps actually again the fairness agenda. That helps us achieve the goal of lifting tax allowances, so we take more people out of tax."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Cameron is already going left.
You had me until you said “profit.” Then I realized you were a greedy evil capitalist. /sarc
So much for the British view of capitalism.
Cameron is a lot like many other folks who talk a good game before they get elected and then do just the opposite when they get in.
Disgusting. Absolutely disgraceful.
If I were the British people, I’d be spitting nails right about now.
Yes they are "splendid for the economy" you pinko sissy-ass limey.
When only a single home is built/sold/bought, in addition to many people being employed, a great deal of goods and services are sold and exchanged.
All UK threads should be posted along with a graphic of a roast with a fork sticking out of it.
What an @$$hole.
There aren’t any real conservatives in the UK.
The second home market is an industry just like anything else. The rich buy a property in Wales..spend money to remodel and expand it and employee people to keep it rnning. If all the rich stopped buying second homes a lot of people will be out of work..oh well..I guess they already know that and don’t care. It get’s them votes in the slums.
more left wing policies, just means UK will never come out of their downturn. In fact it may even get worst as a result and Conservatives will lose the next election because the voters will blame the state of the economy on the Conservatives, handing victory to the Labor party again
This is not my definition of conservative.
Some days it’s hard not to get discouraged.
If those are the Chamberlain levels of surrender he needs to make to get a coalition government, it might be better if he declares failure and they hold a new election (is that the way things work in Britain?). I guess the only risk is that Labour and the Liberals might be able to create a coalition government without the need for those elections.
And if they do bump the capital gains tax from 18% to 40%, expect a huge drop in the British stock market as everyone sells to lock in their gains at the current rate.
Cam deserves a rap in the nuts.
....assuming he has any.
That didn’t take very long.....
Always pick on the achievers and call for more taxes on achievers. The unwritten tax rule of taxing something to get less. Pretty soon you will have less achievers, then who will they tax?
RINO of all RINOs.
Or is it TINO?
He’s no Margaret Thatcher, that’s for sure. She might be the last true British conservative.
What a TINO (Tory In Name Only).
It's a bit more complicated than that. What happens in desirable rural areas (such as the south-west, where I live), is that second-home owners whose primary residence is, say, London artificially inflate the local property market, putting owning a home beyond the reach of young, local first-time buyers, who therefore migrate from the area towards the cities. At the same time the second-home owners are usually only in residence during summer weekends: so that, although as you say there is local employment in construction etc, a lot of the rest of the local economy suffers simply because for much of the year there's nobody around to buy local services. Hence closure of village stores, post offices, pubs etc. The net result is that in some areas we have 'ghost villages', empty for much of the year - and all too often when the second-home owners finally arrive in the summer, they bring most of their supplies with them.
There's a genuine problem for our rural economy here - but needless to say, fiddling with taxation isn't a solution.
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