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Osborne: Labour's mansion tax plans are a 'tax con'

The Chancellor George Osborne has attacked Labour proposals for a mansion tax as a "tax con" during an appearance on ITV's The Agenda.

Last week Labour leader Ed Miliband and shadow chancellor Ed Balls announced the proposals to put a levy on £2 million-plus homes**, which they said would go towards paying for a 10p income tax rate.

Mr Osborne, though, rejected such a policy, telling the programme:

It's very costly to implement.

It means you have to send inspectors round the country valuing all the homes - not just the homes worth over two million but those worth less... It's actually a tax con that you know there aren't that many mansions in the country that can be taxed to pay for some tax cut for millions of people.

So either it's a tax con and the money comes from somewhere else or it's soon a homes tax and they say it's a mansion tax before the election and then very quickly becomes a homes tax on many people who are not living in mansions at all.

The Agenda with Tom Bradby will be broadcast on ITV at 10.35pm tonight.

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