Britain’s biggest earners will see their tax bills fall by £100,000 a year under George Osborne’s budget changes, Ed Miliband said today.
The Labour leader will say that thousands of people earning more than £1 million stand to benefit by more than previously thought because of the cut in income tax from 50p to 45p.
The party said it would be publishing new figures showing 8,000 top earners would each stand to gain £107,500 a year from April next year as a result of the changes.
Labour previously said it thought people earning £1 million year would see their tax bills fall by £40,000 a year.
Speaking in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Mr Miliband is expected to go on the attack today over the Coalition’s efforts to help “the wrong people”.
“David Cameron and George Osborne believe the only way to persuade millionaires to make work harder is to give them more money. But they also seem to believe that the only way to make you work harder is to take money away,” he is expected to say.
“Cut your tax credits, squeeze your living standards, get rid of some of the services on which you rely, and put up VAT. That’s where the money is coming from for the millionaires’ tax cut.”
The Chancellor cut the top rate of tax in the budget over fears amid claims the 50p rate was not raising enough for the Treasury, because many rich people had moved their money out of Britain.
There were fears that taxing the wealthy so heavily would eventually lead to an exodus of businessmen and entrepreneurs.
Speaking at the time, Mr Osborne said it “damages our economy and raises next to nothing”.
He scrapped the 50p rate in March, but said the 45p rate is here to stay for anyone earning more than £150,000 per year.
Under Labour, the rate was 40p in the pound, until Gordon Brown raised it to 50p to help raise money for the Treasury following the recession.