Top UK tax rate set for cut

Taxes

The highest rate of UK tax, 50 percent, could be reduced as soon as the 2012 Budget, according to new reports.

The Independent has reported that both British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne are in favour of bringing the top tax rate down to 45 percent.

The highest rate of tax currently affects all UK citizens who earn £150,000 or more each year, and has received criticism from a number of sources.

Noises from within the government suggest that they are becoming wary of the message such a high rate of tax sends to foreign investors and other sources of money, or ‘wealth generators’ as they are known. As the economy is currently in a state of recuperation it is vital that spending within the country is encouraged, not pushed away.

However, no decision has been made and the Government claims that no decision will be made until early next year, although one Conservative source was quoted as saying: “The decision is not about whether to do it – it's about when to do it. One option is 2012, depending on the state of the economy, or 2013 at the latest. We want it to have come into effect by the time of the next election.”