20 April 2005
New pledge to save hard working families in Dacorum from £268 a year hike in council tax.
Mike Penning, Parliamentary Candidate, added his voice to the new Conservative policy to scrap Mr Blair’s planned stealth tax of the forthcoming council tax revaluation in England. This will save an estimated seven million households from the threat of rocketing council tax bills.
In Wales, two years ahead in the revaluation cycle, four times as many homes have moved up a band as down, with the average tax take across Wales soaring by 10 per cent. This follows a business rates revaluation in England where the tax take has also risen by 10 per cent. Moving up a band means an automatic hike in council tax; shifting from band D to Band E in Dacorum would entail a rise of £268 a year, every year.
Penning explained,
“Families in Dacorum are now struggling - last year, for the first time in a decade, their average incomes fell thanks to Mr Blair’s stealth taxes. The most punishing of all Labour’s stealth taxes has been the council tax. But I believe in rewarding families who work hard and do the right thing. So Conservatives will stop Mr Blair’s revaluation stealth tax. (Liberal Democrats voted in Parliament to support the revaluation – only Conservatives voted against). We will also help hard pressed pensioners, by halving the council tax bills for households aged 65 and over, up to £500 a year.
“Mr Blair has used people’s homes as a means of taxing them by stealth. (Liberal Democrats would also hit hard working families with a new local income tax, costing the typical working family over £600). Most people will have just opened their latest council tax bills with horror. Well, my message to them is clear: if you vote for Mr Blair’s Labour candidate or the Liberal Democrat, you are sending a message that you want higher taxes. If you vote Conservative, you’re saying that you want lower taxes. It’s that simple.”
Mike Penning, Parliamentary Candidate, added his voice to the new Conservative policy to scrap Mr Blair’s planned stealth tax of the forthcoming council tax revaluation in England. This will save an estimated seven million households from the threat of rocketing council tax bills.
In Wales, two years ahead in the revaluation cycle, four times as many homes have moved up a band as down, with the average tax take across Wales soaring by 10 per cent. This follows a business rates revaluation in England where the tax take has also risen by 10 per cent. Moving up a band means an automatic hike in council tax; shifting from band D to Band E in Dacorum would entail a rise of £268 a year, every year.
Penning explained,
“Families in Dacorum are now struggling - last year, for the first time in a decade, their average incomes fell thanks to Mr Blair’s stealth taxes. The most punishing of all Labour’s stealth taxes has been the council tax. But I believe in rewarding families who work hard and do the right thing. So Conservatives will stop Mr Blair’s revaluation stealth tax. (Liberal Democrats voted in Parliament to support the revaluation – only Conservatives voted against). We will also help hard pressed pensioners, by halving the council tax bills for households aged 65 and over, up to £500 a year.
“Mr Blair has used people’s homes as a means of taxing them by stealth. (Liberal Democrats would also hit hard working families with a new local income tax, costing the typical working family over £600). Most people will have just opened their latest council tax bills with horror. Well, my message to them is clear: if you vote for Mr Blair’s Labour candidate or the Liberal Democrat, you are sending a message that you want higher taxes. If you vote Conservative, you’re saying that you want lower taxes. It’s that simple.”
