Labour slaps one-off levy on bank bonuses

BRITAIN’S Labour government slapped a one-off levy on bank bonuses yesterday and said it would hike income tax for all but the poorest in 2011, delaying action to tackle a record deficit until after an election it is expected to lose.

And they are to introduce a special 10% corporation tax rate on income which arises from patents in Britain and it is in direct competition with Ireland’s 12% corporation tax rate.

Despite warnings by ratings agencies that debt has to be reined in, Finance Minister Alistair Darling revised up his borrowing forecast for this year to a record £177.6 billion (€196.13bn) or 12.6% of GDP, from £175 billion. Next year’s borrowing forecast was also revised up by £3 billion in a pre-budget report that would normally be full of populist giveaways given an election is due in less than six months and Labour is well behind in opinion polls.