Balls calls for end to 50 per cent tax break on pension relief

 
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has called for an end to the 50 per cent tax relief people earning more than £150,000 a year currently enjoy. He suggested that the forthcoming Budget should reduce the relief this group receive to just 26 per cent in order to free up more money to end “tax raises on ordinary families”. However, the suggestion looks unlikely to be accepted as a number of business leaders have spoken out against the idea. Simon Walker, director-general of the Institute of Directors, was among those to oppose the move. Mr Walker stated that the “tax-grab attempt” by Mr Balls will be “strongly opposed by the business community”. He added: “Ed Balls seems to think that this country’s wealth-creators can be squeezed indefinitely with increasingly punitive taxes. We cannot allow Britain to become a place which persecutes success. A high-tax economy is a stifled economy: he says he wants growth – this is not the way to get it.” George Osborne's Budget is due to be delivered later this month and some change for 50 per cent taxpayers is expected as the Liberal Democrats and Conservative continue to trade policies.

http://www.50percenttax.co.uk/index/2012/3/14/balls-calls-for-end-to-50-per-cent-tax-break-on-pension-reli.html