According to the Independent, the Liberal Democrats are asking the Treasury for a £16billion package of tax rises on the wealthy to finance the biggest part of an income tax exemption for anyone who is working for the minimum wage.

The proposal, which will shortly be formally adopted as Liberal Democrat policy within, includes ending extra pension relief for higher rate taxpayers, eliminating stamp-duty loopholes and a mansion tax on properties worth more than £2million.

The proposed measures target the wealthiest to finance the key Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000.

Public opinion is divided on the subject of taxcuts. In a new IoS/ComRes opinion poll, 37% of people said George Osborne, the Chancellor, should make tax cuts a priority in the Budget, but 41% said cuts should be delayed until the economy has improved.

More than half (52%) of Liberal Democrats and 38% of Conservatives support the idea of raising the 50p tax rate for those earning over £150,000 to 60p.

This week the Liberal Democrats will start a major campaign to persuade the Chancellor, Goerge Osborne, to agree to a significant increase in the allowance.

Simon Hughes, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, has urged all members and activists to back an e-petition calling for the Government to go further and faster. David Laws returns to the political front line on BBC2′s Newsnight, and Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, will use a party political broadcast on Wednesday to demand faster tax cuts funded by increasing the amount paid by the richest.

At the Liberal Democrat spring conference which will be held next month in Gateshead, delegates are expected to adopt a policy that would take all minimum-wage earners out of tax altogether, by raising the income tax threshold to £11,860.

A motion will call for a list of “immediate steps to ensure wealthy individuals and businesses pay their fair share” of tax. This will include the introduction of a 1% annual levy on homes costing more than £2million, which could raise £1.7billion, a general anti-avoidance rule, which is expected to be included in the Budget, could raise £1.4billion, limiting pension tax relief would raise £7billion, a clamp down on stamp-duty avoidance would raise £750million, a global financial transaction tax would raise £4.4billion, and targeting non-doms who have been in Britain for seven of the past 10 years would raise £1.3billion, giving a total of about £16.5billion, according to figures supplied by the Liberal Democrats.