How To Avoid Clegg's Emergency Wealth Tax

Whether it is a genuine step to rebalance the books or a political gamble to regain the balance of power within the coalition government following the Liberals' defeat on Lords reform, Nick Clegg's proposal (described as a 'statement of intent' by the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson) regarding the introduction of an emergency wealth tax in the UK has taken most by surprise.

It has been received by Labour MPs with scepticism, not least because it does not sit neatly with Clegg's support of the Chancellor's 5 per cent cut in the top rate of income tax – dubbed a 'tax cut for millionaires'. Even his own party are waiting for further detail since Clegg's comments in his interview with The Guardian did not set out any figures.