Fairer Taxes, Better Pensions

The Liberal Democrats want to raise the basic income tax threshold to £10,000, cutting the average income tax bill by £700 and saving pensioners £100.

Lower income tax for low and middle income earners

Under the current Labour Government millions of people on low incomes are forced to pay hundreds of pounds in income tax every year, keeping pensioners on the breadline and meaning that for many people in low paid jobs work simply doesn't pay.

Even a person working full-time earning minimum wage has nearly £1,000 taken in income tax. At the same time we have a tax system that lets big business and the very rich treat tax as if it is optional.

In King's Lynn & West Norfolk, around 9,000 households have an annual income of below £10,000. They should be taken out of the income tax system altogether.

"I want to see a radical rebalancing of the tax system, cutting taxes for people on low and middle incomes paid for by closing tax loopholes that benefit the wealthiest." - William Summers

The Liberal Democrats propose to raise the threshold at which people start paying income tax from current levels to £10,000, cutting the average working age person's income tax bill by £700 and cutting pensioner's income tax bills by £100. These plans will mean that almost four million people across Britain on low incomes will no longer have to pay any income tax at all.

Linking pensions to average earnings

The Liberal Democrats have also pledged to restore the link between annual increases in the basic state pension and increases in average earnings immediately.

This will mean that pensioners' living standards keep improving at the same pace as working age people for the first time in 30 years. They cannot be left behind as they have been ever since the Conservatives broke the link between the state pension and earnings.

The principle of increasing the state pension in line with inflation means that pensioners can only continue to buy what they have always bought and it will not constitute a greater share of their income. They will never be able to afford better things as they get older, new technology that could improve their lives or even a holiday.