Labour appeared split on its proposed new 50p top rate of income tax today after shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said it should only be a temporary measure . Mr Umunna , increasingly tipped as a likely successor to Ed Miliband , said he was opposed to 'taxing for the sake of taxing ' . His remarks highlighted divisions in Labour 's top ranks over the 50p rate , introduced for the last few weeks of Gordon Brown 's government as a trap for the Tories . Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna , increasingly tipped as a likely successor to Ed Miliband , said he was opposed to 'taxing for the sake of taxing . When George Osborne reduced it to 45p , arguing the rate was deterring businesspeople and ‘ wealth creators ’ , Labour railed against what it has ever since called a 'millionaires ' tax cut ' . In fact , the rate applied to income over £150,000 , and Labour has said it will reintroduce it if re-elected . The Scottish National Party has pledged to vote in favour of a 50p top rate if it holds the balance of power after May 7 . But Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls is said to want the new top rate to be temporary , while Mr Miliband is more ideologically wedded to maintaining it . During the Labour leadership race in 2010 , Mr Miliband said the 50p rate should stay in place and was 'not just about reducing the deficit , it ’ s about fairness in our society ' . Today , in an interview with with the New Statesman magazine , shadow business secretary Mr Umunna broke ranks to insist that how long to sustain the measure should be a purely economic decision and not a moral one . ' I wouldn ’ t want to do it permanently because ... I would like to see the tax burden as low as possible , ' he said . ' I don ’ t believe that you tax for the sake of taxing : you tax to fund public services and , currently , to reduce our deficit and our debt . ' I 'm very clear : I did not go into politics to tax people . We should be very clear about that as a party . ' Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls , speaking in Birmingham today , is said to want the new top rate to be temporary , while Mr Miliband is more ideologically wedded to maintaining it . During the Labour leadership race in 2010 , Ed Miliband - pictured campaigning in north London today , said the 50p rate should stay in place and was 'not just about reducing the deficit , it ’ s about fairness in our society ' Mr Umunna also argued that Labour needs to make a more positive and confident case for reducing the deficit in order to cope with the Left-wing backlash it would encounter in office . ' I do n't think there is anything progressive in spending more on your debt interest repayments every year than you do on housing , than you do on transport , ' he said . 'That is where there is an argument from a progressive position to be made for balancing the books . We need to make that argument and we need to make it more confidently . 'Because if we get elected . . . we 're going to have to make some really tough decisions . And we need to be clear why we 're doing this - we will be attacked from the left , not just by the Green Party but the Socialist Party and others , and we 've got to have a confident , not a defensive position . ' Asked whether he would like to be Labour leader , Mr Umunna failed to rule it out . ' I always listen to Tessa Jowell , who 's like my political mum , who says you 've got to keep your feet firmly on the ground and for every person who writes up something like that there 'll be another slagging you off , ’ said the 36-year-old . 'So I think you 've got to keep a sense of perspective and you 've got to remember in politics that it is n't about you , it 's actually about the ideas , the arguments and the party . ' Mr Balls yesterday published an audit of spending and tax commitments in the Conservative Party manifesto which he claims shows the Tories have made £25 billion a year of promises which they have not explained how they will pay for . In a speech in the West Midlands , Labour ’ s Shadow Chancellor will say that this £25 billion is the equivalent of £1,439 a year for every working household in Britain . 'The Conservative Party manifesto contains billions of pounds of panicky promises with absolutely no idea where the money is coming from , ' he said . Chancellor George Osborne has rejected Mr Balls 's criticisms of the Tory manifesto as 'absurd ' . He has refused to rule out reducing the top tax rate back down to 40p , where it was during Tony Blair 's entire period of office .
justice brown said he was opposed to ' taxing for the sake of taxing ' Business Secretary that re - payment of the rate should be temporary . His remarks highlighted divisions in Labour 's top tax over the 50p rate . justice Miliband said the 50p top level of tax was ' about fairness in our society '