Torres

Didn't say they would, I'm just having a chuckle at your idea of new policies becoming law the day after a General Election. It's funny.

10/10 for the rant, Verbal. The second in two days too! Outstanding! Anyway, if you must, why not tax people based on their actual ability to pay, rather than based on the value of an asset that they may have inherited, or bought a long time ago when they were more liquid, or bought way before the value inflated beyond their own imagination? Wouldn't that be fairer, albeit less eye-catching and without the rallying-call title?

New taxes will come into effect the day after the General Election, will they?

Why not, is it only allowed to go one way?

Nobody said that

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/house-prices/11496616/Oh-the-irony-Milibands-London-home-would-be-hit-by-Labours-mansion-tax.html £1.97M in 2015? *shrugs*

Read the article you linked to, btf. You can then come back and apologise. [emoji12]

"worth up to" - so any figure below is covered. Accurate.

Well, you may think it a mantra, but it happens to be true. You don't think that Labour would expend so much energy on a policy that would raise a little over £1bn if they didn't think it was a vote winner, do you?

The Cameron's house is currently valued at less than £2m, as is Clegg's. Ed "man of the people" Milliband lives in a north London mansion (by his definition) valued around £2.7m.

Thing is, it pretty much is. In relation to overall taxation revenue and public spending, the net amount raised by Labour's planned mansion tax is trifling. However, it plays awfully well with a lot of their voters who love nothing more than a bit of class war, which makes the fact that he's the only major party political leader who would have to pay the tax even more ironic...

Not sure there's even a need to do that Yet again RB, the bestest, most forward-thinkingest are way ahead of you.

Ben Thatcher, right back.

Ha, I'm a spaz who can't read. Doesn't materially affect my argument though, tbf. £150, btw.

Because it was too cumbersome and expensive to administer who should/shouldn't receive it, probably, and nobody could be arsed

Didn't need your permission, but thanks anyway

The Guardian didn't like it when IDS proposed something similar last year - "Playing God with the finances of the disadvantaged is no way to tackle cyclical poverty" http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/30/tories-prepaid-benefit-cards-welfare-poverty

From the IFS income distribution calculator, for a family with a household income of £50001 pa, 2 kids under 14 and 2 over 14: Note this is equivalised income and so takes into account the number of adults and children in the household. Is say again, if these people who have an equivalised income more than 31.4 million UK households are reliant on food banks to feed themselves and their family, they have made some very stupid decisions.

Who do you think pays for mine?

These people would, assuming they have normal tax code, have a monthly net wage of at least £3011. If they can't afford to provide food for themselves and their kids out of that £3011, then they've made some very, very stupid choices.

Except that's not what I did. At all. Otherwise, carry on advocating the reinstatement of benefits for people earning £50k+ pa.

Come off it pap. A family where one or both parents earns over £50,000 would be driven to use a food bank because they've lost their £20/week child benefit? These people should be queueing at the slap in the face for being stupid bank, not a food bank.

It's a disgusting indictment on the failings of our society that so many people use food banks in 2015, either because they need to use or them or (worse) they chose to use them to spend their cash on other things, of that there's no doubt. I do wonder what these people were doing to feed themselves before their local food bank sprung up though.

I can't believe that a TV personality who had loads of kids round to his "fun house" to cover them in gunk during the 80s/90s hasn't been arrested yet.

Not at all pap, just pulling your leg. I'm having a glass of red - shall I pour you one?