Chancellor looks to up tax on pensions of rich

George Osborne is considering a new tax raid on the pension contributions of richer voters, after rejecting the idea of a "wealth tax" based on higher council rates for luxury homes and apartments.

The chancellor has promised to balance a planned welfare squeeze - needed to achieve a futher £10bn of benefit savings by 2015-16 - by imposing new taxes on the wealthy. Although Osborne's aides insist this is not part of a "trade-off" with the Tories' Lib Dem coalition partners, the search for new revenues is coming to a head in the run-up to his Autumn Statement on 5 December. according to the Financial Times. Osborne has to send his final proposals to the independent Office for Budget Responsibility by 28 November. The Chancellor met senior coalition colleagues on Monday to disc...