Tax dangers

Labour leader Ed Miliband is concerned that the rich are to receive a tax cut when the top rate of income tax is reduced from 50 per cent to 45 per cent from next April. Could he explain what the objective was when the government of which he was a member increased the top rate to 50 per cent in its dying days? The result was a loss of revenue to HMRC of £7 billion.

Some of us are old enough to remember a previous Labour government which raised the top rate to 97.5 per cent. Is it not time it recognised that common sense is more important than dogma? There has been an influx of French high earners from Paris to London to escape the swingeing tax increases promised by their new president.

London’s financial sector makes a significant contribution to the British economy.

We simply cannot afford to chase a large number of entrepreneurs to foreign countries where the tax system is balanced and proportionate.

John Kelly

High Street

Dalkeith, Midlothian