From The Daily Mail:
People earning £70,000 a year (1) are 'rich' and should pay more tax, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said today.
On what is effectively the first day of the election campaign, Mr McDonnell said Labour would create a 'fairer' system - hinting that could include a new tax band.
The intervention will cause dismay among party moderates who have been warning that the hard-left leadership is driving away middle class voters (2).
Mr McDonnell added: 'The rich will be above £70,000 to £80,000 a year and that's roughly defined as what people feel is an earning whereby people feel they can pay more.'(3)
1) An MP's basic salary is £74,000. Coincidence. Admittedly John McDonnell is currently being paid more than that for acting as Shadow Chancellor, but he knows it won't last.
2) Only a few per cent of people are paid more than £70,000 a year.
3) Nope. The real difference is whether people have to pay rent or not, that is the largest single cause of inequality in this country. A home-owner with no mortgage on £45,000 has the same disposable income (after PAYE and privately collected tax i.e. rent) as a tenant on £70,000. Hence and why it would advance the cause of equality much more if taxes on residential land were increased and taxes on wages and output reduced.
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