Wokingham Lib-Dems welcome proposed Income Tax cuts (Wokingham Liberal Democrats)

Wokingham Liberal Democrats <info@wokinghamlibdems.org.uk>

Wokingham Lib-Dems welcome proposed Income Tax cuts

September 25, 2007 12:00 AM

'Prue Bray with Lib Dem shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable MP, promoting the Lib Dems' proposals to cut income tax and encourage greener lifestyles

Liberal Democrats in Wokingham have welcomed the party's plans to cut income tax, paid for by shifting more of the tax burden onto pollution.

The plans were agreed at the Liberal Democrats' recent conference in Brighton where members voted for a radical set of proposals that aim to encourage people to have greener lifestyles by rewarding with lower taxes those who pollute less.

Local councillor and prospective parliamentary candidate for Wokingham, Prue Bray, said, "Climate change is the biggest problem we face. The floods and storms we experienced this year are likely to happen more and more often if we do not tackle the causes of climate change now. If we take no action now, the bills for damage and destruction will grow and grow.

"We all saw the unprecedented flooding this July, as drains failed to cope with the surface water, and rivers and streams overflowed. Many people in the area are faced with being unable to return to their homes for months. My heart goes out to them. But unless we act now to change our behaviour, the chances are that we will be experiencing similar disastrous floods more and more often.

"Under Labour the share of taxes paid by polluters has fallen. Overall, it is now cheaper to pollute under Labour. Liberal Democrats want to change that.

"It would be wrong just to add green taxes to everyone's existing tax burden. We want to shift behaviour, so we need to shift taxes too. We want to change the emphasis from taxing 'good' things like work, to taxing 'bad' things, like pollution.

"So, under the Lib Dems, residents in this area would benefit from our plan to cut national income tax by 4p in the pound. But, for example, those who choose to drive gas guzzling vehicles would pay more tax than those who chose to drive cleaner cars that pump out less polluting carbon emissions. Overall we would raise the same amount of tax - but if people make environmentally friendly choices, they would be rewarded with a tax cut."

QUOTE: From The Independent, 21st September, 2007:

"On the environment, they [the Lib-Dems] were the first in the field by a long way, and remain ahead of the other parties in their green credentials. They are the only party to project a real sense of urgency about climate change."