Jonathan Djanogly, Member of Parliament for the Huntingdon Constituency, and Councillor Derek Holley, Leader of Huntingdonshire District Council, today warned that Liberal Democrats were planning a new local income tax for Huntingdonshire, which, if enacted, would hurt hard-working families and the elderly. The proposals were outlined during the national launch of the Liberal Democrats' local elections campaign.
Mr Djanogly said:
"We already know that taxes on income have been hiked up by Labour through higher National Insurance, supported by the Liberal Democrats. Now the Lib Dems are planning a new local income tax for Huntingdonshire, on top of their plans for higher national income tax.
These plans would be bad news for the hard-working residents of Huntingdonshire. The average council tax across Cambridgeshire is currently £904. Replacing it with a local income tax would be equivalent to an extra tax rate of 5% on pay packets and savings income, on top of higher taxes nationally. Where Liberal Democrats do win control of councils, it will be ordinary families and pensioners on fixed incomes that will be hardest hit."
Cllr Holley, leader of Huntingdonshire District Council, said:
"The Liberal Democrats make these expensive plans despite all the evidence showing that high-taxing councils don't deliver better services. Indeed the Audit Commission recently found that Conservative councils generally have higher satisfaction ratings among local residents despite the fact that they also charge lower rates."
He added:
"Liberal Democrats always talk about simplifying the tax system, but, quite apart from the fact that local people shouldn't lose another 5% of their income to yet more taxation, a local income tax would be an absolute nightmare to administer. It would be at least 2 or 3 times more expensive to collect revenue than under the current system."