COUNCIL TAX - IT IS BROKE AND WE MUST FIX IT - LGA LIB DEMS

Commenting on Conservative plans on Council Tax, Cllr Richard Kemp, Lib Dem Group Leader at the LGA, said:

"The council tax system is flawed and the Tories' plan doesn't address the long term problems. The only way to get local government finance on a stable footing would be root and branch reform of how councils are funded so that they are less reliant on money from the Government. We believe that the only fair way of doing this is a Local Income Tax, which fairly reflects people's ability to pay.

"Councils are now the most efficient part of the public sector. Town halls are making savings of almost £100 million a month and will continue to make almost £5bn more savings over the next few years.

"The struggle to keep council tax down has become an annual battle for town halls because funding from central Government has failed to keep pace with the extra pressures placed on local services. "

Vince Cable MP, Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor, accusing his Tory counterpart George Osborne of “playing a hopeless game of catch up” over the proposal to freeze council tax, and added:

“Rather than making tough economic choices over tax and spending, George Osborne is simply passing the buck to local councils, expecting them to make arbitrary cuts.

“This false promise of freezing council tax will be entirely dependent on individual councils being able to cut their budgets, which is likely to leave the poorest areas with continuing council tax rises.”

Dr Cable also criticised Mr Osborne’s “vague aspiration of national tax cuts at some point in the future”.

He added: “This country needs a party that is willing to take the tough choices today to reduce the tax burden for people on low and middle incomes hit hardest by the financial crisis.”