Pensioners hit by Budget tax snatch
Gordon Brown's 10th Budget brought an unpleasant budget tax snatch from hard up pensioners. The Chancellor took away the £200 Council Tax rebate he gave them just before last year's General Election. The news has been condemned by Cornwall's five Liberal Democrat MPs, who say Chancellor Gordon Brown's tax snatch will worsen pensioner poverty in the Southwest.
The Liberal Democrats say the Chancellor should have taken the opportunity to scrap the unfair Council Tax. The missing £200 Council Tax rebate was given to pensioners last year, just months before the General Election.
Julia Goldsworthy, the Liberal Democrats' Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, described the move as: "Totally shocking. It is now absolutely clear that the £200 rebate given to pensioners last year was purely and simply an election bribe designed to get New Labour through a difficult patch. How cynical can you get? Pensioners are going to jail because they cannot afford to pay their bills. What kind of message does this send to the most vulnerable sections of our community?"
Former Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor Matthew Taylor said:
"Gordon Brown has done little to help people on low-incomes, like so many in the South West. It is still the case that under Labour the richest 20% of taxpayers pay less of their income in tax than the poorest 20%. Is that the kind of country that Gordon Brown wants to preside over as Prime Minister? Snatching away the £200 Council Tax rebate he gave pensioners just before the General Election is especially mean and cynical."
