Government to look at £10billion cuts with more taxes for the rich

Chancellor George Osborne aims to reduce the welfare budget by £10billion in the next four years...

On top of an £18billion cut that was announced in 2010, the government will now look at a further £10billion to be saved on welfare. The Chancellor will tell the Conservative Party at a conference on Monday of the plans.

In a bid to tackle the UK’s deficit, as the economy is still showing no signs of stabilising, the Chancellor will vow to cut the benefits budget by £10billion by 2017. This is expected to concern child tax credits and housing benefits among other agendas.

The government will reportedly consider family members with a look at children who are supported by benefits. This is an area that is expected to cause controversy. The evaluation of monies will also look at un-employed persons under the age of 25, which could mean that young people may be forced to live with their parents for longer – potentially in to their 30’s.

The Conservative conference is also expected to tackle the topic of the more wealthy members of society being taxed more, in order to help solve the deficit problem.

The Liberal Democrats are understood to be considering a ‘mansion tax’ where, according to the BBC, home owners of buildings worth at least £2million are to pay a yearly fee of 1per cent on the property values for anything above this amount. Although, it is unsure whether Mr. Osbourne will agree to this.

He did admit however, to BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the richer members of society would face greater taxes in some form or another as “the rich need to contribute more”. However, Mr. Osbourne outlined that “you can't just balance the budget on the wallets of the rich” and that on its own, taxing wealthy people would not simply solve the financial downturn.

In a report by the BBC the Chancellor is quoted as confirming the idea as “those with the broadest shoulders must bear the broadest burden” in a bid to aid the government with the deficit. He said: “There will be new taxes on rich people”.

The government are expected to find around £16billion from cuts in the next few years.