You are here: Home
Newsflash
Concern as Labour Ministers Plan New Taxes on Tamworth By “Back Door”
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
83800840_2.jpg


























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.

Read more...
 
Cost of Living Campaign goes to Lichfield District
Thursday, 02 October 2008

cp_me_cost_of_living_080920_edit.jpg













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.



Read more...
 
A+ | A- | Reset

e-Newsletter






Polls

Who delivered the better conference speech ?