Lib Dem tax plans hit couples with £700 bill
April 2005

Liberal Democrats council tax plans will result in a £700 hike for couples living in Lambeth

Liberal Democrat plans to scrap council tax and replace it with a local income tax would result in a £700 tax hike for couples living in Lambeth. The news will come as a shock to hard working families attracted to the Lib Dem “scrap the tax” campaign. But calculations carried out by Labour Councillors in Lambeth have revealed the truth behind the Lib Dem spin.

A household with two people earning the London average and living in a band D property would pay £1753 in local income tax instead of £1095 under the current council tax regime. Working couples earning just £19,950 each would end up paying more tax under the Lib Dem plans. Groups of flat-sharers on even lower salaries than this would be hit harder still.

Even a single person earning £34200 would pay more. Liberal claims that pensioners and the poor would benefit under their plans do not take into account council tax benefit of up to £200 a week and Gordon Brown’s cap on the amount of council tax paid by pensioners. Their plans simply mean that hard working families end up paying more.

Liberal Democrats are responsible for the high levels of council tax in Lambeth in any case, having increased council tax by 35% since they came to power in Lambeth in May 2002.

Councillor Dan Sabbagh, Labour’s lead spokesperson on finance said:

“The Liberals are just not being straight with people in Lambeth. They trumpet ‘scrap the tax’ but fail to mention that their own plans would lead to punitive tax rises for hard working families.”

“Labour is acting to make the council tax system fairer and it is Labour Councils which have the lowest levels of council tax. The Lib Dem’s national tax plans reflect the kind of insensitivity to working people shown by their councillors in Lambeth.”

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