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Concern as Labour Ministers Plan New Taxes on Tamworth By “Back Door” |
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Wednesday, 24 December 2008 |
New laws before
Parliament will allow the imposition of congestion taxes, road pricing and
workplace parking taxes on Tamworth local
Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman, Christopher
Pincher, warned this week. The small print of new legislation
gives sweeping powers to new unelected bodies to control transport policy –
including the power to levy new taxes. Unelected regional government will also
be strengthened, giving them sweeping powers over housing and
planning.
·
Unelected
economic and transport quangos: The Government’s
so-called Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill gives
Labour Ministers the power to create new ‘combined authorities’, made up or two
or more local authority areas. This will mean that Staffordshire County Council
will lose control of power over economic development, regeneration and transport
policy. The new bodies will not be directly elected, and the rules on their
appointments will be drawn up by the Government.
·
Quangos
can impose new taxes via the back door:
The small print – the obscure Schedule 6 of the Bill – allows the unelected
combined authorities to impose ‘local charging schemes’, in the form of
congestion taxes, road pricing and workplace parking taxes. Labour politicians
could use these new unelected quangos to slip in the new taxes, and override
public opposition.
·
More
powers to unelected housing and planning quangos: The Bill also
gives housing and planning powers to the unelected appointees of the West
Midlands Regional Assembly. Through binding new regional plans, buildings and
development can be imposed on local communities, and environmental protection
like the Green Belt can be ripped up. Labour Ministers will also have power to
revise the regional plans as they see fit.
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Cost of Living Campaign goes to Lichfield District |
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Thursday, 02 October 2008 |
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Hard
working families across Lichfield district
will find it even tougher to cope with the soaring cost of living, Christopher
Pincher, Shenstone, Stonnall & Elford’s Conservative Parliamentary
Spokesman warned this week, thanks to Gordon Brown’s plans to hike taxes
on family cars.
And
in many communities where local shops and post offices have already disappeared
a car is not a luxury, it is an essential for many people.
Fuel
prices at the pump are rocketing and households face spiralling gas and electricity
bills on top of ever-higher council tax. The cost of driving a car will soon be
even more expensive. Low-income households in rural communities will be the
hardest hit, just as they have been with the 10p income tax hikes.
The
Government is to change the way that Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is calculated to
raise an extra £2.5billion for Gordon Brown’s coffers. Family cars
face higher VED as well as a ‘showroom tax’ for new cars. The VED
tax will be retrospective – so any car bought after 2001 will be hit by
the higher tax rates. This will lead in turn to a plummeting re-sale price for
second-hand cars. This will make it more difficult for people to replace their
car and upgrade to a new or better one.
For
example, the tax bill for a typical Ford Mondeo will rise from £210 to
£310 a year, with a new £500 showroom tax on top. Yet, even the
Government’s own estimates show that carbon dioxide emissions from
motoring will hardly be cut at all. Even a Nissan Micra will soon cost
£200 to tax.
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