Well we all have probably heard the saying that there are only two certainties in life – Death and Taxes.
Generally people recognise that taxes are required the point that most people make is that taxes should be fair.
The proceeding local tax the poll tax was widely recognised as unfair and the result was wide spread non-payment, protests in the street and eventually even the government listened.
The council tax replaced the extremely unfair poll tax and by comparison appears fairer. But recently the Labour governments under funding as highlighted the basic unfairness in the tax.
Council tax is the least fair major tax it takes about 5% of the income of the poorest 10% of people but only about 1% of the richest 10% of people. It can not be fair that pensioners living next door to a young couple both with a good job pay the same amounts of council tax.
Two million needy households could reduce their tax by getting Council Tax Benefit, but don’t because they find it too demeaning or too complex.
What is the main reason both these taxes are unfair ?
They do not take account of people’s income.
The best way is to make the system fair is to scrap the Council Tax and replace it with a Local Income Tax.
The system to collect this tax is ready in place. It’s call the Inland Revenue
All the borough council would have to do is supply the Inland Revenue with the level of local income tax for the residents of the borough.
The Inland Revenue then has to do is supply the individual with the information via their tax coding forms.
Sounds simple – well it is.
It fact it is so simple that it is projected that it could save councils over £500 million per year in reduced costs of collecting the tax revenue.
So I am backing this excellent motion because as with many of Liberal Democrat policies it is the correct thing to do.