Darling Targets Bank Bonuses, Says U.K. Rich Will Pay More Tax

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Source: Bloomberg

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, targeting what he calls “greed and recklessness” in Britain’s financial system, asked banks to curtail bonus pay and said the rich will pay more in tax.

“It is right that those who earn the most should shoulder the biggest burden,” the finance minister told the ruling Labour Party’s annual conference today in Brighton, England. “We will introduce legislation to end the reckless culture that puts short-term profits over long term success. It will mean an end to automatic bank bonuses year after year.”

Darling said he has raised tax rates and eliminated relief for pension contributions for the rich. The Treasury is probing 100,000 offshore bank accounts and expects to recover at least 1 billion pounds ($1.59 billion) from Liechtenstein alone.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government is attempting to shore up support among voters by attacking bankers and suggesting the rich will have to foot the bill for the sharpest recession since World War II.


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=a1C4ndJZAFgw

[Autumn]

1. Gee , I like the way he thinks

wish our politicians thought that way.

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2. I can't help but notice the language

is against "the rich".

Whether or not I agree with the ideas he's put out, the ideology and terminology is wrong. Do people not get that class wars against "the rich" are as ignoble as class wars against "the poor?". Or is that just too progressive?

There is a right way and a wrong way to get the desired result, and clue: this ain't the right way by declaring class war on the faceless "rich".

Fair taxation - that's a concept I could get behind, with none of the particulars changed. But going after the "einviger jews", oh I'm sorry, "the rich" is in pretty poor taste.

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3. Alistair Darling warns Labour to inspire voters or rue next 20 years

Labour will hand the political initiative to the Tories for up to two decades if the party fails to inspire voters, the chancellor, Alistair Darling, saidtoday.

A day after he warned Labour that the party appeared not to have "fire" in its belly, the chancellor said that Britain was facing one of the most important elections in generations.

"If we don't inspire the electorate, if we don't take our message out, then you can't expect somebody else to do it," Darling told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.

"We have it in our hands to take the Tories on, because the country in a few months time will be deciding on a government that could influence the way in which we go, not just for five years, but for five, 10, 20 years. That is why the choice is so important," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/sep/28/alistair-darling-labour-conference-speech