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Originally Posted by bob_builder
It is like the Poll Tax
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No it's not because the Poll Tax levied the same charge against everybody, regardless of ability to pay
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Originally Posted by bob_builder
People will have a choice... at the general election!
They can choose to pay:
less tax - same level of public services (with less bureaucracy) - Conservative
more tax - same level of public services (with more bureaucracy) - Labour
a lot more tax - better public services - Liberal Democrat
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Not actually true as I understand it. All three parties are looking at roughly the same tax take, it's just how they plan to get it that differs.
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Originally Posted by punky
I have already shown you numerous examples. Your view of the income tax verus council tax is too simplistic. Having income tax instead of council tax might faviour poor people, but only if there was only 1 person per house. We know that is not the case, and that is what makes income tax more of a liability.
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No. The number of people in a household is irrelevant. Ability for each adult individual to pay is far more important. What has how you live got to do with anything in relation to provision of public services (I mean you could argue that those who share a house als share expenses so they're better off than those who live alone; but it doesn't matter because charges should be levied against an individual's circumstances).
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Originally Posted by punky
Poorer people are more likely to share a house, or rent, and it is precisely these people that will be 'worse affect' (not in how much they'll pay, but in the relative change in what they have to pay).
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Sorry I don't understand that point.
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Originally Posted by punky
Like I said before, a tax is supposed to raise money, not make people happy. Therefore the Lib Dems want to implement a more efficient tax that'll raise more money that its predecessor. Don't forget all the rest of the taxes that Lib Dems want to implement, like apparently, if you have a dog, you should be taxed too. God knows why they need so much money.
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Have you posted details about the dog thing?
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Originally Posted by punky
IIf the Lib Dems are so ethical and wonderful, why not give people a choice? If you do better with council tax, stick with it, and if you do better with extra income tax, choose that? That way the poor will be unburdened as much as possible, but the Lib Dems don't want that. It is about money, not ethics, and they need bank loads of it.
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That's just ridiculous.
As I said, my understanding is that all 3 parties are looking at roughly the same overall tax take; this proposal looks to be just trying to make recovery of that take more equitable by ensuring those who earn more, pay more. Surely administration costs will also be much lower.
This from The Guardian incidentally:
"Labour attacked the Liberal Democrats yesterday over their economic proposals, in preparation for the party's "alternative budget" today.
Alistair Darling, the transport secretary, argued that switching from council tax to a local income tax would mean "a couple on average earnings" of £41,000 losing £208 each year.
But those figures are based on a dual-income household in which both the man and the woman earn the average wage. In fact, the median household income for the country is £21,700 . The Liberal Democrats say such a household would gain £461 a year.
Vincent Cable, the party's treasury spokesman, has also promised to raise the threshold at which stamp duty is levied from £60,000 to £150,00 0, lifting more than 400,000 buyers out of paying the tax."
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The aim of Lid Dem local income tax policy as stated by a local council spokesperson (following an anti Council Tax protest by OAPS):
""The next Liberal Democrat Government will abolish council tax and replace it with a system of local income tax. So
those who could afford it would pay more for local services and
those on very low incomes would pay little or nothing."