While the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) welcomes any plan to reduce the burden on British businesses or ordinary taxpayers, the plans announced by the Conservatives today are disappointing. The TPA today publishes a response to the plans that details why they...

The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) welcomed George Osborne's plans for a council tax freeze, and invited the Shadow Chancellor to take up the TPA's numerous proposals on how savings can be made. Matthew Elliott Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:...

Last week Labour's talking heads were falling over themselves to rubbish Conservative plans to fund from central government a 'zero Council Tax rise' for any authority that keeps its tax increases below 2.5%. The same line we have heard time and again was raised - that any reduction in spending will hit frontline services. Once more, we were told, the Conservatives will slash spending on the

Hazel Blears MP, Labour's Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, responding to the Conservatives' paper on local government, said: "This green paper does nothing to advance the increased flexibility Labour has given to local councils - instead it is designed to conceal plans to scrap local support for hundreds of thousands of businesses, and cut cash for councils that w...

And so we come full circle (almost), with a call for tax cuts for the working middle classes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to tax cuts per se, and firmly believe that government should not be spending money where individual choice might be more effective. However, promising tax cuts implies that you have a pretty good idea as to the role of government. I'm yet to be entirely convinced

I mentioned last week the Liberal Democrats are the only party who proposes scrapping the council tax and replacing it with a local income tax. If this Guardian article is to be believed, they could be about to lose one of their few distinctive local government policies: Liberal Democrats are planning to soften their support for a local income tax to replace the council tax, a key policy for at le...

One of the Tory’s main plans is to cut the number of consultants working for various government departments. Without it, it is doubtful that a Conservative government would enable local authorities to freeze council tax (a policy that incidentally makes this blogger think the Shadow Chancellor reads Coffee House). The desire to cut the cost of consultants is understandable. Spending on consu...

The Guardian publishes today what appears to be a well-briefed article suggesting the Lib Dems are thinking of deferring plans to scrap Council Tax in favour of a local income tax: Liberal Democrats are planning to soften their support for a local income tax to replace the council tax, a key policy for at least three

I was disappointed, but not entirely surprised to learn this evening that the SNP Government has decided to drop, at least for the duration of this Parliament, plans to replace the Council Tax with a Local Income Tax. My strong support for LIT is something which I've put on the record before and which I'm happy to do so again. The Council tax hits low earners disproportionately and is particularly...

Second home owners could face a hefty "surcharge" on their council tax under plans being considered by the Government.