The tax system in Britain has often been criticised for its social discriminatory properties. The less well off always seem to be hit very hard by tax whereas the welathy find loopholes. Perhaps raising top band income tax will help reduce the social inequality that still exists in the country.

The very welathy will stil find loopholes. Those earning 150k will perhaps have the economic savvy (or the money to afford accountants who have) that they need to avoid much of the tax, whereas minumum wage earners perhaps cannot.

There is no extra tax on investments, and those above the 150k threshold are likely to have pretty hefty investments. The income tax is therefore not quite as much of a blow to these people as it could have been.

The investments of earners in this bracket are likely to have been in property. As the property market plummets so do the value of their investments so they are being affected.

This tax rate is for those that earn the most. When combined with the announcement that the £120 increase in the personal income tax allowance is now permanent (and will be increased to £145 from next April) we will see real help for those earning least and struggling most.

The general public blame the city fat cats for the current economic situation. It will please the public if they are seen to pay for the consequences through raised tax on their ill-gotten (or at least ill-advised) gains.

This argument rests on the assumption that the measure will fail. If this is what's needed to kickstart the economy then not only will the Tories not be able to criticise, they may be more hesitant to criticise similar policies in the future.

It appears that the Tories have actually emerged from their decade of irrelevance and stand to gain should this crisis be mishandled. Despite the lack of any real causal relationship, Tory leadership can always blame lackluster economic performance on the taxing of the UK's most productive citizens.

Almost everything there is irrelevant - raising income tax to 45% will Always increase the amount taken, you will not find that taxes are reaping less if the rates are higher. xD

Practically speaking, increasing income taxes during a downturn is always a risky idea. It assumes that this population wont waste resources on trying to avoid the higher rates (maxing out tax-sheltered accounts, loopholes, etc.), especially when they have taking a huge hit on securities losses. Further, the wealthy often have huge discretionary income accounts--they are the best target for spurring consumption; I highly doubt the rich will spend more if their income is taxed more (especially if the increase offsets the decrease in VAT).