"CUT INCOME TAX IN BUDGET" - ARUN LIB DEMS URGE CHANCELLOR

10.19.51am GMT Sun 9th Mar 2008

Chancellor Alistair Darling should cut national income tax, paid for by rises in green taxes, when he delivers his Budget on 12th March, say Bognor and Littlehampton Liberal Democrats.

Simon McDougall, Leader of Arun's Liberal Democrats said, "The people of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton have been squeezed by higher prices for energy and rising council tax over the past year.

"And since the last Budget, the country has suffered again from extreme weather conditions, where climate change is likely to have been a causal factor.

"The Budget is an ideal opportunity for the Government, at last, to tackle the environmental damage that is contributing to the freak weather conditions we are seeing happen only too often. It is also an opportunity for Alistair Darling to cut the burden of tax on low and middle income households.

"The Liberal Democrats therefore want to see a cut in national income tax to 16p in the pound. This should be paid for by increasing the taxes on activities that pollute most, such as running the most polluting vehicles or flying.

"Council tax is an unfair tax. It is far more of a burden for low and middle income households. Liberal Democrats want the Chancellor to use the Budget to scrap council tax and replace it with a fair, local income tax, based on ability to pay.

"I strongly believe that the Liberal Democrats' plan of shifting more of the tax burden from people's income and onto pollution will benefit people in the Arun District.

"In Britain, the poorest fifth of households pay a bigger share of their income in tax than the richest fifth. The wealth divide between rich and poor has actually risen since Labour came to power, this particularly affects people in Arun's poorest wards;- Bersted near Bognor and Ham and River wards in Littlehampton

"The Budget is an ideal opportunity for Labour to put right the problems they have allowed to grow since they first came to office in 1997."