Comments on: Liberal Democrats propose 4p cut in income tax

By: Maxell Rodgers

Maxell Rodgers — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:18:31 +0000

Why should those earning more pay more local tax? Those earning more usually use less local resources. If old people don’t like the council tax being based on the cost of their house – down size – move into something smaller. I tried hard at school and college, work hard and do not want children but see my wages going to subsidise those who are lazy, put no effort into their education or see breeding as a way of opting out of work.

By: deepak income tax

deepak income tax — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:33:32 +0000

For Individual Income Tax Credit provides a refund of taxes to those with low income. Because this generates a certain amount anxiety to those who have low income, this tax credit is viewed as an important poverty alleviator for the country. It is advisable that those people who have low earnings resort to non-profit organizations that can aid in getting Individual Earned Income Tax Credit.

By: jodie

jodie — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:37:53 +0000

And the lowest poll rankings since 1800, what a pointless bunch you are

By: Liberal Democrat Voice » Tory tax priorities: cuts for the richest, please

Liberal Democrat Voice » Tory tax priorities: cuts for the richest, please — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 06:56:28 +0000

[...] Contrast that with the Liberal Democrat priorities for tax - a mix of some of these proposals, but with in addition tax cuts across the board (4p off the basic rate of income tax), a simpler system, and extra help for those most in need. [...]

By: Edward Waite

Edward Waite — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:52:14 +0000

4p of the pound sounds pretty good…. but…I think a better way to give money back to the working masses (and I include myself in this) is to make the cost of commuting on public transport income tax deductible.

Tthis would be (a) enviromentally positive – it would provide a valuable financial incentive for people to get out of their cars and use public transport.

(b) It would assist the lower/middle paid because it is predominantly the lower
paid who commute by public transport. (Although it is possibly the case that
wealthier people commute further¡¡- although research could be carried out
into this.)

(c) It would release some of the pressure on the South/South East (and other
parts of UK) by making it easier for people to live further out of London –
hopefully meaning that people would then be able to afford their own homes
(even if not in the centre.)

(d) It would be a vote winner because instead of the enviroment always being
an excuse to increase taxes – here it would be an excuse to effectively
reduce taxes.

By: Andrew Duffield

Andrew Duffield — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:07:20 +0000

4p off the basic rate makes a great headline – and it might actually benefit the productive economy if it wasn’t for at least 3.5p being added stright back as Local Income Tax.

At best then, this is a half-percent cut – certainly better than a shift the other way, which is what we were proposing previously, but nothing like as much as what we should be doing if we are serious about taxing “bads” instead of “goods”.

Above all, this party must get its head round the fact that income tax is actually a cost to business and passed on to the consumer with ultimate and heavieat incidence on the poor. Any claim that income tax is redistributive and “fair” is entirely superficial – as 200 years of an ever widening wealth gap should have proved.

The real frustration is that senior Lib Dems know this to be true, yet continue pandering to “Devon Pensioners” and their ilk because today’s votes are what counts and the next generation can go hang – or pick up the tab for everyone else at least. Why indulge in genuinely sustainable economics when tomorrow is another day?

Still, 0.5p off income tax is a start I suppose.

By: CRAIG

CRAIG — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:34:15 +0000

I think that it is the right direction for the Lib Dems to move the tax burden from the low paid to those who could afford to pay more. Labour under Gordon Brown has acheived helping the low paid than when the previous Tory administration was in power, but he has now removed the lower level rate of 10p in the £ rate income tax and failed to address why low paid people would be worse off if they took certain jobs as they can not afford the level of council Tax. I have heard people on benefits say that if they took some jobs they would not benefit has it would not cover the Council Tax. I think that the Lib Dems are the only political party to have called for a Local income Tax. They will count on my vote at the General Election

By: Another Anthony

Another Anthony — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 22:54:47 +0000

Bernie, “fairness” means not having a tax system where those earning the lowest amounts of money pay the greatest proportion of their income in tax.

M Cunstance – if £60,000 is the “average” income per household in London – (1) wages in London are much higher than anywhere else in the country, so increasing taxes for households earning £68,000 pa, so that they pay a similar proportion of their income in tax to those earning much less, is not going to affect many people and is actually fair enough and (2) what kind of “average” are you talking about? What is the median salary per household in London? I bet it’s much lower than £60,000, but a much more likely figure as to what most people really earn.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:17:28 +0000

Ignore the couple of rabid comments above; this is an excellent plan.

Seems that the biggest losers are non-residents (your Russian oligarchs for example) who currently get to avoid paying any tax when they sell property here. No idea why successive Labour & Tory governments think it’s right that ordinary taxpayers should be subsidising them!

I particularly like the stuff on simplifying the tax code. I find it pretty unfathomable in places (and I’m an accountants) – and I know for a fact that HM Revenue & Customs don’t understand vast tracts of it.

Well done Ming!

By: Andy Mayer

Andy Mayer — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 14:48:32 +0000

Speaking from the perspective of being a liberal who prefers that to mean smaller government done better these seem to be broadly sensible proposals.

The three big achievements are to find a way of scrapping Council tax without recourse to an income tax rise (which was the problem in 2005), raising the threshold on inheritance tax, and making stamp duty less onerous.

On the payment side I’m can’t really see strong arguments against either scrapping taper relief or increases in green taxes. The most difficult area is removing tax relief on higher-rate pension contributions. I personally would prefer that we considered a sensible land tax rather than this suggestion, however it would be an unusual balanced tax package that pleased everyone with every item.