Westminster Council leader Nickie Aiken’s plans to ask owners of houses worth more than £10 million to “voluntarily” pay more council tax shows her to be an utter joker
The Conservative Party used to be the logical party. It was the contrast to nutty, hard left Labour and the party of business. Under first John Major, a man who harked back to bicycling maidens and warm beer, it became wishy-washy and then via Iain Duncan Smith, a truly reprehensible cretin, it became the “nasty party” and now, thanks, to PR man David ‘Call me Dave’ Cameron, it morphed into being nothing but a waste of space.
With Donald Trump’s bestie Theresa May now at the helm, the Tories have lost direction and yesterday another fine fool, Nickie Aiken, the Conservative leader of the City of Westminster Council, announced plans to launch a “voluntary mansion tax” on homes worth more than £10 million ($13.3 million, €11.3 million or درهم48.8 million).
Aiken intends to call her levy the “Westminster community contribution” and, speaking to the BBC, remarked:
“This scheme might have its cynics, but I have spoken to very wealthy people who want to help the borough more. I’ve had nobody say it won’t work… It is about fairness… It is not about overtaxing the rich – that is the last thing we want to do.”
The tax would supposedly collect a voluntary supplement of £1,376 per year ($1,825, €1,554 or درهم6,702 per year) from an estimated 2,000 owners of £10 million plus properties within band H, doubling what they already pay in council tax. It would supposedly bring in an additional £2.8 million per year ($3.7 million, €3.1 million or درهم13.4 million per year) if all such property owners made the payment.
A resident of such a home in Eaton Square and reader of The Steeple Times – whom wished to remain anonymous – commented:
“This elected joker’s publicity stunt is utterly pointless. Nobody in their right mind will hand over more of their hard earned cash to government if they don’t have to. If you don’t have to pay, who would? I certainly won’t be participating in this ridiculous scheme.”
“Nickie Aiken can go take her begging cap somewhere else and as Norman Tebbit once said, I tell her: ‘On ‘yer bike.’”
Elsewhere, on social media, Grant McManus also made fun of the proposal. He tweeted: “[I’m] surprised Westminster isn’t charging Rita Ora council tax for living in the #LiveLounge.”
On her own protected Twitter account, Aiken’s handle most appropriately reads: “I agree with sentiments.” That’s plainly apparent: This fool is most certainly not fit to create policy.