Reduce the burden on pensioners, low income earners and small businesses

Written by Farid Ahmed on Wed 19th Sep 2007

Farid Ahmed, Walthamstow Parliamentary Spokesperson speaking in favour of the Liberal Democrat conference approval of radical new tax plans that will drop the basic rate of income tax to its lowest level since 1916.

After ten years of the current Labour Government, the tax system remains unfair, with the bottom 20% of households paying a higher proportion of their income in taxes than the top 20% of households.

In addition, wealth inequality is worse and, the tax system has also become incredibly complex under Labour.

Farid Ahmed said "any tax system should be fair, simple to administer and easy to understand. This us particularly relevant for pensioners and small businesses. Also the tax system should be more decentralised - so that there is a clearer link between local services and local accountability with incentives for responsible use of resources.

Farid Ahmed agreed with the suggestions that can improve the current structure.

We can cut the basic rate of national income tax by 4p - this will mean that even after Council Tax is abolished and replaced by Local Income Tax, the vast majority of people will be paying a lower rate of income tax overall. The unfair Council Tax should be replaces by taxes that are based on the ability to.