Another disappointing budget from yet another lacklustre Tory Government.
The Liberal Party welcomes the 2p reduction in National Insurance; however, would also like to have seen the tax threshold increase to least 15K in order to not only make work pay but also take more lower paid earners out of paying income tax. Furthermore, the party believes the VAT threshold should have increased to at least 150,000 in order to have had any real meaningful impact on SME’s.
In addition, given the growing levels of disparity between those at the top 1% versus the rest, the party would have equalised Income Tax with Capitals Gains/Dividends Tax and slapped a 50% rate of Income Tax on anyone earning over and above £150,000.
Finally, given the budget constraints that local councils are facing and the inevitable bankruptcy, the party would have reformed Council Tax and Business Rates and would have replaced it with a Land Value Tax and also enabled local councils to raise taxation at 100% (including fees and charges) without any caps from Westminster.