£100 Off your Council Tax bill

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 28th Feb 2003

Lib Dem plans would give every Council Tax payer in the country a refund of £100.

Every Council Tax payer in the country would see their bills cut by £100 under proposals outlined by the Liberal Democrats in Parliament.

To make the tax system fairer and simpler, the Liberal Democrats have published their Alternative Budget with proposals to give every Council Tax payer in the country a refund of £100, funded by national Government.

This would be a short term measure pending the complete abolition of the Council Tax and its replacement with a fairer Local Income Tax.

"Labour's 27% council tax increase is daylight robbery. The Council Tax is an unfair tax. It hits pensioners particularly hard," said local Liberal Democrat Cllr Ian Atkins. "The Council Tax takes no account of people's ability to pay, so a nurse or pensioner can pay more than a multi-millionaire."

Average council tax rises across the country this year will be the highest ever. These large rises will mean average council tax bills have risen by over £400 under Labour.

"Labour have made this Tory tax even worse," said Lib Dem MP, Edward Davey. "Only the Liberal Democrats are pledged to abolish the unfair council tax."

"Now with the Liberal Democrats' national budget plans, we would be able to cut £100 off every council tax bill this year, in the run up to replacing council tax with a fair tax related to people's ability to pay. Gordon Brown could do this now, if he adopted national Liberal Democrat plans."

Notes for editors

1) The Liberal Democrats have produced a fully costed alternative budget which includes the introduction of a 50% tax on any incomes over £100,000 a year to pay for the council tax cut and the abolition of student tuition fees.

2) The introduction of a system of local income tax is a long standing Liberal Democrat policy and was supported by the independent Layfield Enquiry of 1976.

3) A system involving Local Income Tax was supported by several Labour MP's including David Blunkett and Jeff (now Lord) Rooker.