Independent Report backs Lib Dems on local tax

3.18.43pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 6th Apr 2004

The independent Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accounting (CIPFA) this week confirmed the main Liberal Democrat points on local taxation. Also, the Government's review of local government funding has at last started to consider local income tax as a possible replacement.

The Liberal Democrats would replace Council Tax with a Local Income Tax. It could save £300 million in collection costs and would be fairer (75% of residents would be better off or no worse off under such a system).

Said Lib Dem Stephen Robinson:"Council Tax should be abolished because it bears very unfairly on pensioners and others with fixed incomes.

"The growing support for a local income tax may in part be due to the thousands of signatures collected by the Liberal Democrats on a petition in favour of a fairer system (hundreds of them were collected in Chelmsford).

It is about time that Labour and the Conservatives came up with some proposals to replace council tax with something fairer.

Our local council tax has risen this year by about 5%, more than double the rate of inflation. This was despite the Conservatives promising low tax at both the County and Borough elections."