Just watching an excellent piece on the Politics Show about LibDem tax increases. As Peter Riddell said "If you scratch a LibDem Spokesman they will come out with lots of detyailed taxes". The reactions of normal teachers and doctors who found out what the LibDem Local Income Tax would cost them was very telling.
And they even want to introduce a Dog Tax. That was a new one on me, I admit.
And they want to introduce VAT on new housebuilding. That'll be part of their commitment to affordable housing then... These people are tax junkies but despite the 40 new taxes they want to introduce they still can't meet their spending commitments. My experience on the doorstep talking to people is that they are beginning to see though the LibDems' national promises. One or two recently have begun to equate them with the Old Labour spending plans under Neil Kinnock.
Oh, Vincent Cable says that they won't introduce a dog tax. Jeremy Vine said it was on their webiste. cable said that did not mean it was party policy. Bit like the Tourism Tax then. And these people want to run the country!
"40 new taxes they want to introduce "
ReplyDeleteDo you have a list of these that is any more accurate than the one going out on Tory leaflets in various seats?
Amongst the 40 listd on it are the Local Income Tax - but also another one about new Council tax bands! Now given that Lib Dem policy is to replace Council Tax with Local Income Tax - i.e. replace one tax with another - it seems a bit rich of the Tories to describe this as two of 40 new taxes.
Perhaps you could clarify, iain, by listing the 40 new taxes you are saying the Lib Dems want to introduce?
Neil
ReplyDeleteDelighted to oblige. If you follow this link http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=campaigns.display.page&obj_id=115871
you can download the dossier compiled by CCO of the LibDem tax pledges. I am sure you will be most enlightened! I think this also deserves wider dissemination so I am putting it on my main website too.
Re Tax Happy Lib Dems
ReplyDeleteStarting to see more in the papers about this and I am delighted. I think that very often really caring people vote Lib Dem because somehow it has been made to seem socially responsible. Shedding light on Lib Dem tax plans just may start people thinking the truth about this.
P.S. When I think of 40 new taxes on the 60 or more stealth taxes that Labour has already levied all I can say in delight Yiddish parlance is oy vey!
Iain - that is the same as the list that is being circulated on leaflets which I was complaining about!
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned it includes both the Local Income Tax as a new tax but then two variations of Council Tax as two further 'new' taxes when the Lib Dem policy is actually to abolish Council Tax. The Tory dossier therefore counts this as 3 'new taxes' when it is actually one tax replacing another.
Similarly it counts the Lib Dem proposal to replace the Business Rate with Site Value Rating as a new tax when this is also one tax replacing another.
This dossier also repeats the claim you have made previosuly that a 'typical working family in England' would pay '£630 extra a year.' in Local Income Tax which is based on assuming that a 'typical working family' equates to a man and a woman each on average full time earnings, which is not the same thing at all.
I was asking YOU to substantiate YOUR claim that the Lib Dems plan 40 'new' taxes, not to point me to an obviously innacurate Tory website.
Fair points, Neil. I also see today that the Lib Dems plan to raise the threshold for stamp duty on house purchases to £150,000 to assist (in particular) first time buyers by eliminating tax altogether on many house purchases. At the moment, virtually everyone pays stamp duty as the threshold is set absurdly low.
ReplyDeleteIt is clearly nonsense to mention "new taxes" without also mentioning ones which would be abolished or reduced.