A £1,400 tax cut for every working couple (Wokingham Liberal Democrats)

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

A £1,400 tax cut for every working couple

November 30, 2009 12:00 PM

Liberal Democrat candidate for Wokingham, Prue Bray, today welcomed the party's new plans to bring in a fairer tax system.

Under the Liberal Democrats no-one will pay a penny's tax on the first £10,000 they earn each year. The proposals give every working person a £700 pay cut - £1,400 less tax a year for every working couple.

Pensioners will each receive a £100 tax cut. And 4 million of the poorest people will be taken out of paying income tax completely.

Prue Bray said: "Our fairer tax system will give tax cuts to everyone - but particularly to those at the bottom who need them most. I know how useful working families will find the £1,400 tax cut they will receive from the Liberal Democrats each year. And I know it is absolutely right that the Lib Dem plans will close tax loopholes to pay for those cuts. It is only fair."

Along with closing a series of tax loopholes the Liberal Democrats will introduce a mansion tax - a 1% levy on the value of homes worth more than £2m.

Prue Bray added: "No one in a home worth less than £2m will pay a penny of extra tax on their property. This is a tax that will only hit the very richest in the country - only a handful in Wokingham."

The Liberal Democrats will also replace council tax with a local income tax, based on people's ability to pay. Money raised locally will be spent locally, improving the community we live in.

Prue Bray added: "Not only is council tax unfair, for example penalising pensioners who no longer work, but the money is spent by faceless bureaucrats in Whitehall.

"Under Lib Dem plans what's raised in Wokingham will be spent in Wokingham, directly improving our community. What could be fairer than that?"