Election Broadcast

In common with every other Lib Dem Blogger, here's the Local election Broadcast which succinctly outlines some of the key achievements in National Government. I particularly like Nick Clegg's comment that

"we should make sure that tax cuts are aimed at people on middle and lower incomes and I just want us to move the tax system in a direction where there is less tax on income, effort and work and more tax on wealth and the wealthy."

The video is light on achievements in Local Government - I assume these will be elaborated on later in campaign and by local parties - but party members got an e-mail from Jo Swinson MP today which outlined some of these too:

Unlike Labour and the Conservatives, every Liberal Democrat council in England has frozen council tax.

Also, according to the Local Government Chronicle, Liberal Democrat councils are twice as likely to give pay rises to low paid workers compared to Labour and five times more likely than the Conservatives.

Anyway, here's the video:

Andrew

Budget 2012

Just this.

What will YOU do with YOUR Sixty Pounds?

This is another post about the Liberal Democrats push to increase the Personal Allowance towards (and beyond) £10,000. I make no apologies for that, although I do promise to focus on other things in future posts.

I mentioned in this post about Caron Lindsay's idea that we should relate the figures of tax saved to real-life examples of what this money could be spent on. It appears that Caron's wise words have been listened to by the party as members got an e-mail from Party President, Tim Farron on Friday.

In it he discussed this issue and launched a website encouraging people to think about how they would spend an extra £60 a month. (This represents* the basic rate tax saved by increasing the Annual Allowance from £6,475 when the coalition took power - which was unchanged from previous year - to £10,000.)

So what are you doing with the £16.67 you're already saving in income tax each month? What would you do with an additional £43.33?

For myself, it'd make things a bit more comfortable while I pay down debt and save for a trip to Australia. I appreciate, though, that that isn't going to help with an economic stimulus, so I shall also purchase new clothes, which are even more desperately needed now I've lost over a stone in weight!

You can respond here and say what you would do? Note that the website asks for an e-mail address which is, presumably, for authentication purposes but may also lead to you being added to a mailing list.

Once you've completed the form, the site will also give you information about the impact of the policy locally. In Bristol, 16,200 people will be taken out of Income Tax altogether.

Andrew

*Pedants note - the actual figure before rounding is £58.75.

Sooo... What have the Liberal Democats achieved in Government?

I recently posted a piece which had a link to Mark Pack's Facebook page where he is posting an achievement for the Lib Dems in government every day. Today, though, he has published this 'infographic' which pinpoints a number of the party's policies which are now being enacted.

You can visit Mark's site here, where you can see a larger version and also sign up to his excellant monthly e-mail.

Andrew

Winning the Arguments on Tax (2)

Earlier this week, over on Lib Dem Voice, Stephen Tall reported on a ComRes poll for the Independent which saw 60% of respondents agreeing with the proposition:

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? People on high incomes should pay more in tax in order to take people on the lowest incomes out of tax altogether.

As Stephen points out, this isn't quite Lib Dem policy (which is to seek to tax wealth whilst taking lower income families out of tax) but it does show a general support for the principle of the state seeking to supporting those with the lowest income and wealth in society through the taxation system.

Stephen provides some analysis of the figures, based on the poll's tables (which you can find here). 

I'd like to add a couple of points:

The tables show the policy is supported by a majority in each social group although this support is weaker amongst those in the "higher" groups. 

More surprisingly, though, support is weakest amongst younger people, who would be amongst the likely beneficiaries, which suggests a (probably general) need for greater engagement with these (18-24 and 25-34) age-groups.

There's a few other points that are thrown up in the tables but which probably fall outside of the remit of this blog - you may find another post on the subject appearing over on the the widow's world sometime!

Andrew

Winning the Arguments on Tax

Courtesy of Mark Pack's Facebook page, which is a fabulous resource for Lib Dem related (and general political) news, here's a link to a photo of The Times' editorial yesterday which considers favourably the principles underlying Lib Dem tax policy: a presumption towards the taxation of wealth as opposed to income.

And it's not just The Times: Tim Montgomerie of Conservative Home also advocates tax cuts and (an element) of increased Wealth Taxes, although he comes at this from a somewhat different angle.Tory MP Mark Reckless has popped up on the wireless advocating Council Tax rebanding and closing of Stamp Duty and Capital Gains Tax loopholes. The Spectator has an interesting report on two papers from the OECD which would also appear to support this position.

Of course, there are still a number of disenting voices on the right... you can always rely on The Telegraph to see moves to rebalancing the burden of taxation as "cynical targetting of the better off"...

Andrew

Every action...

...has an equal and opposite reaction. It's an irrefutable law of physics (at least for now, although we did think that nothing could travel faster of light and that is now being questioned...)

It could also be a law of coalition politics - the Tories and Lib Dems are able to press ahead on things on which they agree and give way on other things with with which they don't. Earlier on Facebook, Caron Lindsay posted a link to this Huffington Post piece by Louise Phillips which deals with exactly this. Every time you hear a Lib Dem talk about increases in personal allowances remember that Tories gave up plans to increase the Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band, (re-)introduce Married Couples Allowances or remove the current 50% "Additional Tax" band.

Caron being Caron, though, she didn't leave it at a just a Facebook link - she's written her own excellent post on the subject. She succinctly points out that the reduced tax has been swamped by people's experience of high inflation and wonders whether it is better presenting the facts as practical examples of what this could have purchased rather than just pounds and pence.

As inflation comes down and this year's annual allowance increase (whether that be the £8,105 previously announced or a new, higher figure urged on Osborne by Lib Dem ministers) kicks in, she'll have to think of bigger examples of how the Liberal Democrats are making a positive difference to people's take home pay, and their monthly finances.

Andrew