Chesterfield Liberal Democrats salute Government tax support for low income earners

From talking with local residents, Chesterfield Liberal Democrats are reporting support for Government measures to support those who earn wages below the national average. Referring to the Coalition Government's significant increase of the amount of money someone can earn tax-free every year, Walton Councillor Keith Morgan said:

"The increase in tax free allowances year on year has helped all income earners whose allowance was just over £6,000 p.a. when the Coalition Government came to power in May 2010. In April 2013 it will be raised to £9,440, that's a total Income Tax cut of £600 a year for more than 20 million ordinary working people compared to Labour and well on its way to our target of £10,000 before any income tax is levied."

Someone earning the minimum wage will have seen his Income Tax bill cut in half. The increase in the personal allowance will remove an additional 245,000 individuals from facing paying tax. This means that, from April this year, the cumulative effect of the Government's increases in the personal allowance will take 2,200,000 people out of the Income Tax system entirely.

When Ed Miliband and Ed Balls were in the Treasury, Labour's top rate of tax was 40p. It was 40p for 12 years and 11 months of their 13 years in power. Their much quoted 50p was a temporary, desperate measure in their dying days. Until those final few days, Labour had cut income tax for millionaires every single year.

The electorate should not forget that:

1. Labour cut Income Tax for millionaires every year until its final month in office.

2. Over the five years of this Parliament under the Coalition, a millionaire will pay £381,000 more tax on his income (income tax and NICs) than they did under the last five years of the Labour Government.

3. Labour cut Capital Gains Tax for millionaires every year it was in office. We have increased CGT, so a hedge fund manager earning £1m will pay £477,000 more in tax over the five years of this Parliament under the Coalition than under Labour in the last Parliament. These are never headlines in the national media.

Which party is really a Party of, and for, the People?