Liberal Democrat members of the Cabinet have been busy over the weekend announcing a range of tax initiatives set to resonate with its party faithful at its Brighton party conference this week.
Deputy PM Nick Clegg said he would not back any more spending cuts without a new tax being slapped on the rich.
But Clegg admitted that he been unsuccesful in persuading the PM David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne to support his demands for a mansion tax that would add a 1% charge on properties above a threshold of £2m.
Mr Clegg told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show:
‘I will not accept a new wave of fiscal retrenchment, of belt tightening, without asking people at the top to make an additional contribution.’
‘'I don't think you can ask people on middle and low incomes, who after all are the vast majority of the British population, to bear the brunt of this adjustment.’
As part of the government's attempts to create a 'fairer economy', Mr Clegg said parents and grandparents would be allowed to draw on pension pots to secure deposits for younger family members in order to boost home ownership.
In a Mail on Sunday article, fellow Lib Dem, chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander heralded the start of a new crackdown on the tax affairs of the rich.
He said another 100 staff would be employed at HMRC’s Affluence Unit (AU) to manage the additional workload created by targeting people with assets worth more than £1m, such as Premier League footballers.
Yet an Independent article highlighted a number of British billionaires and multi-millionaires who pay their taxes.
The newspaper’s list reveals a mix of investment gurus, finance chiefs and property businessmen such as David Harding, founder of Winton Capital, the world's largest hedge fund, and Mark Coombs head of Ashmore investment house.
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