At first glance, Guildford Liberal Democrats’ call for a local income tax to replace council tax (Surrey Advertiser, 26 September) might seem a worthy idea. It is the case that council tax has gone through the roof – across the country and not just in Guildford - since the Labour Government came to power in 1997, thanks to Whitehall fiddling the system of local funding. Yet if one looks beyond the rhetoric, Guildford residents would face soaring tax bills under the Liberal Democrats’ proposals.
Replacing the average Guildford household’s council tax bill of £1,213 would require the equivalent of 7 pence in the pound on the basic rate of income tax to generate the same amount of revenue. On top of this, Liberal Democrats support giving the unpopular South East Regional Assembly power to levy a regional income tax of up to 3 per cent, as well as levying a top rate of national income tax of 50 per cent. Hard-working families thus could face a 1970s-style marginal tax rate, destroying jobs and the incentive to work.
Local income tax has all the disadvantages of the old poll tax – families and shared houses with more than one earner would see their tax bills soar. Pensioners would not escape either – their savings income would be taxed to the hilt too.
It’s time for Guildford and Surrey to receive a fairer deal from the Government, but Liberal Democrat plans for a barrage of new local taxes are not the way forward.
Cllr Sheridan Westlake
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