Soaking The Rich Doesn't Work In Britian

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, talks about Britian's debate over the re-installation of the 50 percent income tax. The dark ages of the 70's were overcome by Margaret Thatcher's cutting the top rate of tax to 40 per cent, which caused the country to be transformed from a "sclerotic militant-ridden basket-case to a dynamic enterprise economy."

Why? Because the lower tax rate attracted four of the world's six leading law firms, jump-started the Cool Britannia phenomena, and provided the impetus for everything from the engineering sector to the advertising industry.

Labour wants to portray any opponent of the new tax as a thoughtless defender of the rich. We are not. The truly rich will get a smarter accountant or buzz off to Zug. What we want to protect is the spirit of enterprise that has been so vital in reviving this country in the past 25 years, a revival that has helped all sectors of society.

China, Germany and Australia tax their rich at 45 percent, France at 40 percent; and the U.S. is at 35 percent.