Conservatives promise to halve council tax for over 65s
Conservative Party leader Michael Howard has promised that the Conservatives would halve council tax bills for the over 65s.
Mr Howard said that up to £500 could be cut off millions of pensioners’ bill under the plans.
The party says that the cut would be funded by central government and would cost £1.3 billion. The discount would not be means tested and would come in addition to existing discounts.
Mr Howard said that the Conservatives would also raise the basic state pension in line with earnings – which he claimed would make pensioners up to £11 a week better off.
He added: “People deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in their old age. Because I believe that the true test of a society is the way it treats its senior citizens.
“People will face a clear choice at the election: Conservatives who will increase the state pension and cut pensioners’ Council Tax or Mr Blair, who will forget them and raise their Council Tax.”
Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin added that the plans would tackle the “most unfair stealth tax”.
Mr Letwin said: “It is right that we should use a third of the £4 billion available for tax cuts in our first Budget to help the vulnerable and to reverse one of Mr Blair’s most unfair stealth taxes. We will halve council tax for millions of pensioners. Mr Blair would double it.”
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said that the Conservatives’ sums did not add up ,claiming that they would have to make £50 billion in cuts to pay for their tax and spending plans.
Mr Prescott said: “The Tories have committed to cut £35 billion from public spending. In addition, they have made spending commitments totalling well over £15 billion that could only be funded from cuts elsewhere. So the Tories have to find £50 billion worth of cuts to pay for their tax and spending plans.”
He said that this money could not be found from waste, as Labour’s plans already assume substantial efficiency savings, adding: “The truth is none of the Tories’ sums add up and today’s promises from the Tories are not worth the paper they are written on. The Tories have to find more than £50 billion of cuts to pay for the tax and spending commitments they have made – a scale of cuts that could only be found through frontline cuts to schools, hospitals, the police and vital public services.”
The Labour Party is pledged to look at the council tax system when the Lyons review is published. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told Labour’s spring conference in Gateshead last weekend that Britain was heading for the lowest council tax increase for a decade and the Government would cap free-spending authorities if necessary.
The Liberal Democrats say that they would scrap council tax completely, and replace it with a local income tax system.
Help the Aged said that whilst any rebate was welcome, root and branch reform of the council tax system was still required.
Mervyn Kohler, head of public affairs, said: “The Conservatives’ announcement will please older people who feel that they have been unfairly penalised by large rises in council tax over the last few years, particularly those who fall outside the limits for claiming council tax benefit.
“This rebate would also be particularly helpful for the forty per cent or so of older people who are eligible for council tax benefit, but do not claim it. However, this move would not make the council tax itself any fairer, which is why we are still calling for root-and-branch reform.”
Keith Taylor, the Green Party’s principal speaker said that the Tories plans were “shameless” – particularly considering that they introduced the council tax.
Mr Taylor said: “I am sure electors will remember which party gave Britain the Poll Tax and then replaced it with Council Tax – the Tories. They will also remember that it was the Tories that introduced the legislation in 1980 that removed the link between pensions and average earnings.
“Today’s Tory announcements amount to a shameless display of hypocrisy and opportunism – voters, and in particular pensioners, will not be fooled a second time.”
It says that the link between pensions and earnings should be restored – along with a substantial rise in the basic state pension.
