Cut income tax to help people through hard times - Mick Bates AM (Montgomeryshire Liberal Democrats)

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Montgomeryshire Liberal Democrats <montlibdems@gmail.com>

Cut income tax to help people through hard times - Mick Bates AM

October 1, 2008 12:00 AM

Like everyone else in the country, residents of Montgomeryshire are suffering from rocketing food and energy prices. The government's own figures show that bread is up a fifth, butter and eggs by over a third and potatoes by over a quarter.

Mick Bates AM and Vince Cable MP highlight escalating cost of living

Welsh Liberal Democrat AM Mick Bates joined forces recently with the Lib Dems' Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable MP to highlight the real increase in the cost of living.

They took a supermarket basket of basic groceries which together cost less than £10 last year. The same basket now costs over £12, a quarter higher.

"People are feeling the pain of the credit crunch and rocketing prices," said Mick. "The government is doing too little, too late to help people get through the hard times.

"We need to put money back in the pockets of people who are struggling to make ends meet. Liberal Democrats are calling for a 4p cut in the rate of income tax, paid for by upping taxes on pollution and closing tax loopholes used by the rich.

"We would also get tough on unnecessary and wasteful government spending, and use some of the money saved to cut taxes even further for those on low and middle incomes. And energy companies should be forced to use the £9 billion profit they have made from the Emissions Trading Scheme to cut bills and fight fuel poverty."

Notes:

Though the current inflation rate is officially 4.7%, the actual rise in basics, especially foods, is much higher. The photo opportunity with Vince Cable at the Bournemouth conference used two identical baskets of basic foods (and one small "luxury" item - 4 croissants). The figures in the table below show the rises of these goods, using the government's own retail prices figures, from July 2007 to July 2008.

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