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Merlene writes to the Chronicle asking readers to look further than face value Tory pledge to freeze Council tax
October 9, 2008 12:00 PM
"At the latest round of Party Conferences, Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osborne pledged that under his administration, the Tories would freeze Council tax for at least 2 years.
This might sound attractive on the surface but ask any economist worth his or her salt and they would tell you that in times of recession that may not be what the economy needs.
Likewise, closer to home, we have a Tory Council that is buying votes through the announcement of another year of Council tax cuts of 3 per cent. What this translates to in reality is an average saving of maybe 50 pence a week?
But in fact residents are being charged much more for services that were previously subsidised, such as home care and recycling of green waste, whilst grants for adult education and youth services have gradually been chipped away.
The Liberal Democrats pledge of tax cuts, on the other hand, are aimed at the lower and moderately paid, taking more people out of the basic rate tax bracket altogether. We also have radical proposals to scrap Council Tax and replacing it with a local income tax, based on people's ability to pay.
As our Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable MP has pointed out, freezing or cutting Council tax is a false promise which will hit the poorest areas the most.
His practical solutions for getting us out of the current banking and housing crisis include a cut in interest rates by the Bank of England and the taking of an equity interest (as opposed to repossessions) by mortgage lenders."
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