Labour to reverse Cameron’s tax cut for people earning over £150,000 to get deficit down in a fairer way, Ed Balls announces

The next Labour government will reverse David Cameron and George Osborne’s tax cut for people earning over £150,000 for the next Parliament to help get the deficit down more fairly, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls announced today.

 

In a speech to the Fabian Society Annual Conference, Ed Balls said that fairer deficit reduction meant that the top rate of tax would need to be raised from 45p back to 50p.

 

Ed Balls also announced a binding fiscal commitment that the next Labour government will balance the books, deliver a surplus on the current budget and get the national debt falling in the next Parliament

 

Latest figures from HMRC show that people earning over £150,000 paid almost £10 billion more in tax in the three years when the 50p top rate introduced by Labour was in place, then was estimated when the government conducted its assessment of the tax rate in 2012.

 

As part of plans for a fairer tax system that backs ordinary working people, Ed Balls said that Labour also wanted to introduce a lower 10p starting rate of tax to help make work pay and cut taxes for 24 million working people on middle and lower incomes.

 

In his speech, Ed Balls said:

 

"We will make changes to create a fairer tax system. So we will crack down on tax avoidance, scrap the shares for rights scheme and reverse the tax cut for hedge funds.

 

"We want a lower 10p starting rate of tax, which would help make work pay and cut taxes for 24 million people on middle and lower incomes.

 

"And today I want to go further, to ensure that those with the broadest shoulders bear a fairer share of the burden.

 

"The latest figures show that those earning over £150,000 paid almost £10 billion more in tax in the three years when the 50p top rate of tax was in place than when the government conducted its assessment of the tax back in 2012.

 

"And when the deficit is still high, when tough times are now set to last well into the next parliament, when for ordinary families their real incomes are falling and taxes have risen, it cannot be right for David Cameron and George Osborne to have chosen to give the richest people in the country a huge tax cut.

 

"That’s why for the next parliament the next Labour government will reverse this government’s top rate tax cut, so we can finish the job of getting the deficit down and do it fairly.

 

"For the next Parliament, we will restore the 50p top rate of tax for those earning over £150,000. Reversing this unfair tax cut for the richest one per cent of people in the country. And cutting the deficit in a fairer way."

LABOUR PARTY

COUNCIL TAX FREEZE FOR THANET

The leadership of Thanet District Council is to recommend freezing Council Tax for a fourth consecutive year, despite a further significant reduction in its formula grant from central government.

The council’s Cabinet will consider the 2014/15 budget proposals when it meets next week (Tuesday 21 January at 7pm).

It is expected to propose no increase in residents’ bills once again, despite having to find an additional £850k to offset the loss of income from former Ramsgate ferry operator Transeuropa. 

Overall the council has identified £1.2m of savings to reduce its net revenue budget requirement from £19.3m in the current year to £17.9m in 2014/15. Almost £400k of this reduction has come from tasking managers to save 20 per cent of their budgets for items like printing, stationery and equipment purchase, with another £100k from contract savings.

Cllr Rick Everitt, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “I am delighted that despite the acute financial pressures on the council, we are in a position to make no increase in Council Tax for a fourth year running.

“We recognise that most residents are still feeling the pinch financially and we have been determined not to add to their problems. 

“Equally important, I am confident local people will notice no reduction in front-line services as a result of this budget. 

“Council staff at all levels have made their share of sacrifices to keep costs down and this also needs to be noted with our appreciation.”

The likely standstill means that the Thanet District Council element of bills for a band D household will remain at £209.97 a year and the council will benefit from a government freeze grant of £80k, equivalent to a 1% rise in Council Tax.

A final decision on TDC’s Council Tax will be taken by Full Council at its meeting on Thursday 6 February. The council last increased its share of residents’ bills in 2010.

However, the amount residents pay in Council Tax overall could still increase, depending on decisions reached by Kent County Council and the other precepting authorities, including the Isle’s towns and parishes.

Thanet District Council collects Council Tax on behalf of other authorities. Its share is only 14% of the overall bill. The rest is split between Kent County Council (71%), The Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent (10%), Kent Fire and Rescue Service (5%), and the town and parish councils or charter trustees.

TDC PRESS RELEASE

Prince’s Trust study should be a wake-up call for this complacent Government on youth unemployment - Rachel Reeves

1. Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to research by the Prince’s Trust on the effects of youth unemployment, said:
   
   ”The Prince’s Trust study should be a wake-up call for this complacent Government which is failing to tackle youth unemployment.
   "With youth unemployment at worryingly high levels this is no recovery for those young people who are facing a cost-of-living crisis and risk being locked out of earning their way to a better standard of living in the longer term.

   "Labour would act to tackle youth unemployment with a compulsory jobs guarantee, funded by repeating the tax on bank bonuses. This would guarantee real paid work for young people unemployed for a year.”

   
   

   LABOUR PARTY

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FROM THE TDC LABOUR GROUP