[andrewb]

What do people think about this? It's going up from 40% to 45% on high earners, and both main parties have pretty much signalled they'll go along with it.

My concern is that it's a completely political move by both sides. Labour have done it to make the Conservatives look like the party of the rich, and the Conservatives have done it to make themselves not look like the party of the rich.

It's nothing to do with actually raising more revenue to pay off debt, as it won't raise any additional. Increasing tax on the wealth creators means they're less likely to come and reside in this country, it means people have less aspiration to achieve top jobs, furthermore most economists believe it will bring in peanuts if anything, in fact a lot believe it will have the opposite effect and bring in LESS money for the government.

In the 1987 recession when income tax was taken from 45% to 40% the government actually saw more money coming in.

It's popular with the public according to a poll, but again this just adds to my cynicism, they're doing it because they'll get votes, not because its actually going to help. They take the easy option rather than explaining to the public that it really won't make a difference.