UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer Warns Against Deputy PM's Proposed Tax

Says 'Wealth Tax' would hurt economic growth

George Osborne has responded coolly to a plan from Nick Clegg to impose an emergency levy upon Britain's wealthiest, warning it would endanger economic recovery.

As a prominent Tory backbencher dismissed the deputy prime minister's proposal that the rich should face a time-limited tax to avoid a breakdown in social cohesion as a pre-party conference "easy clap line", the chancellor said the wealthy already paid more tax and the country should be wary of driving away wealth creators.