Alexander Says Liberal Democrats Key to Tax Cuts for Poor
U.K. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said the Conservatives promise to raise the level at which people start paying income tax will only be kept if his Liberal Democrats are part of the next government.
Tax cuts for working people are only happening because we Liberal Democrats fought for it every day in coalition, Alexander told his partys annual conference today in Glasgow, Scotland. The income-tax threshold will only go to 12,500 pounds ($20,000), and be paid for fairly, if there are Lib Dems in government next time to make it happen.
Prime Minister David Cameron concluded his Conservative Party conference last week by promising the tax cut, as well as an increase in the starting point for the higher 40 percent rate, if hes re-elected in May. With polls showing both the Tories and the Labour opposition may struggle to win a parliamentary majority, the Liberal Democrats might find themselves kingmakers for a second time, even though theyve lost most of their support from the 2010 election.
Liberal Democrat party leader Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said the balance of deficit reduction through taxes and spending cuts would be central to negotiations for any future coalition government.
Clegg said his party would cut tax relief on pensions for the wealthiest, change the level of tax relief on dividends and scrap the ludicrously wasteful shares-for-rights program to raise more money for public services to make sure those with the broadest shoulders pay their share.
The Liberal Democrats are not going to enter into government with an economic agenda which the Conservatives have announced is their priority, which would only penalize the working-age poor; its anathema to everything we believe in, Clegg said in an interview with BBC Television. We believe you have to do the difficult things to deal with the economy -- which the Labour Party refuse to confront -- but you have to do it as fairly as possible.
Meanwhile, Alexander reiterated the Liberal Democrats plan to introduce a tax on higher-value homes to ensure policies do not only benefit the richest in society.
It does mean asking the wealthiest to pay a little more tax. We will introduce a new levy on the highest value properties -- new bands on top of council tax to end the outrage that a 50 million-pound property can currently pay the same as a half-million pound home.
Backing for the Liberal Democrats has dropped to as little as 7 percent, according to a YouGov Plc (YOU) poll for the Sunday Times. It also showed the Conservatives leading with 36 percent support, followed by Labour at 34 percent. YouGov President Peter Kellner has estimated the Liberal Democrats may lose half their House of Commons seats.
Party activists at the conference flocked today to a lunchtime side event discussing whether the Liberal Democrats could go into coalition with Labour after 2015. Ten minutes before the scheduled start time, the room was so full that stewards were turning away dozens of would-be attendees.
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Alexander Says Liberal Democrats Key to Tax Cuts for Poor