I am flabbergasted at the "mansion tax" policy that Vince Cable has just announced at the LibDem conference - a 0.5% property tax on the value of any property over £1m.
Many older people in the NW3/NW8/NW6 area are fortunate enough to live in houses that are now worth a lot of money, but are still living on modest fixed incomes (not least given the reduced income from savings).
For example, why should a widow in Frognal or Swiss Cottage living in the house her late husband bought 30 years ago and is now worth 1.5m now pay £2,500 more a year, in addition to a high council tax? This will force pensioners into forced "downsizing", selling homes they have lived in for decades.
In addition, non-political think-tank the Centre for Economics and Business Research has already calculated that the policy would reduce property values.
Camden LibDems have consistently criticised property taxes such as the council tax in the past. Will they condemn Vince Cable's new policy that - whatever its effects in most of England - is palpably wrong for local circumstances in Hampstead/Belsize/Swiss Cottage?
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