Nick Clegg admits middle classes will bear tax cost

Craig Woodhouse12 April 2012

Nick Clegg conceded for the first time today that Liberal Democrat policy to slash taxes for the poor will see the middle classes pay more.

The Deputy Prime Minister admitted there would be a rise in high-rate taxpayers as a "knock-on" effect of the policy.

But Mr Clegg vowed the Government would take "consistent, clear" steps towards increasing to £10,000 the amount workers can earn before paying tax.

It was a Lib-Dem pledge before the general election as a policy to be brought in gradually. From April the starting rate for income tax will rise by £1,000 to £7,475, lifting 500,000 out of tax altogether but creating 750,000 more high-rate taxpayers to pay for it.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said raising the threshold would result in 850,000 extra high-rate taxpayers.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT