Budget action on tax will help local families

Lisa Strachan, Rutherglen Liberal Democrat candidate has welcomed the coalition government’s budget tax changes.

Changes to the personal tax allowance will see a rise of £630 to £8,015 in April 2012, a planned Air Passenger tax rise will be postponed and a tax avoidance clampdown will raise £1 billion this year. There are also welcome measures of relief for motorists with the scrapping of the fuel duty escalator and a cut of 1p in duty, bringing the fuel duty down 6p from the level planned by the last Labour Government.

Other tax raising measures will ensure that private jet users will pay tax on their flights for the first time and a tax rise on oil firms will be introduced.

Corporation tax will also be cut by an extra 1%, to encourage growth of the economy and a boost for jobs.

Lisa Strachan said:

"Liberal Democrats in the Government have insisted there should be fairness and help for the lowest paid people. Today’s announcement to add £630 to the personal allowance from next year will lift more people out of Income Tax payments altogether."

As a result of the increase to the Income Tax Personal Allowance, almost 100,000 people in Scotland now won’t pay tax at all, and 2.2 million low and middle income earners will have their tax bills cut.

"For 150,800 people, the amount of income tax they pay will be reduced to less than £200 a year.

"Already, as a result of Liberal Democrats being in the UK Government, 2,730 people in South Lanarkshire will be removed from paying Income Tax altogether this April.

"That helps people who need it most and it’s what the Liberal Democrats said we would do. Local people will also be helped by the cut in fuel duty and in Labour’s fuel duty escalator. This is real help at this very tough time for Scottish families and the Scottish economy.

"A crackdown on those who avoid tax is an important part of all of this – up to 10% of people are estimated to avoid tax, and this coupled with measures to introduce new taxes for the very well off, such as private jet users, means that fairness is at the heart of this budget.

"The budget does the right thing for Scotland in dealing with the tough financial times we have been left to deal with as a result of Labour’s legacy."