MING´S VICTORY

by MONITOR
HAVING been patronised by the media and some senior members of his own party for the past few days, Menzies Campbell had a signal victory yesterday at the Liberal Democrats' conference when his proposal for abandoning the party's long-standing commitment to a 50 per cent tax bracket for high earners was convincingly approved. Critics have said this fundamental change was forced on Mr Campbell and his colleagues by the evidence that the 50 per cent tax bracket was electorally unpopular in just the seats the party can expect to win. But another way of looking at is that it represents a major innovation in taxation policy in that the money lost by leaving high-earners alone will be more than replaced by "taxing pollution not people". In other words the polluters, whether heavy industry belching out carbon emissions or individuals driving fuel-inefficient 4 x 4s, will in future pay the taxes needed to fight the environmental battle with which, sooner or later, governments will have to engage. It was certainly an encouragement to the party's executive that the influential independent Institute of Fiscal Studies had backed its claim that the plan for so-called green taxes would redistribute wealth efficiently and in a way that all taxpayers can recognise as essential for environmental survival. Although in the next two weeks the other parties will try to rubbish the LibDem's idea, Menzies Campbell and his talented young team can feel that their boldness has paid off.