Emergency Budget a Gimmick to Save Brown’s Job Not Real Jobs
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Shenstone and
Little Aston’s Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman, Christopher Pincher, has
slammed the Gordon Brown’s new financial proposals as “a post dated tax bill of
almost £1,500 for every family.”
Thanks to their
economic crisis, Labour has delivered a massive Tax Bombshell Budget aimed at
the pockets of Little Aston residents. Many economists say it is a £20
billion temporary tax give-away to be followed by £40 billion of announced
permanent tax increases.And buried in
the small print are another £100 billion of unspecified tax rises to come.
Everyone with incomes over £19,000 will be hit by Brown’s plan to “borrow
today, tax tomorrow.”
The Chancellor, in
one move, has doubled the national debt to more than £1 trillion, and borrowed
more than at any time in our history. Britain will be paying off Gordon
Brown's debt for decades to
come. With this Budget, Gordon Brown has mortgaged the country's future to try and safeguard his own.
Conservatives say
the choice at the next election could not be more clear:A record borrowing binge and a lifetime of
tax rises under Labour or fiscal sanity and lower taxes that last under the
Conservatives.
Concern as Labour Ministers Plan New Taxes on Tamworth By “Back Door”
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.
Tamworth’s Pubs Being Ripped Off In Tax Inspector’s Cover-Up
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Local pubs in
Tamworth are being denied business rate cuts by the Government, Christopher Pincher, Tamworth’s Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman, warned
this week. Pub landlords could be paying thousands of pounds over the odds in
tax, but are being kept in the dark by Government tax inspectors who want to
avoid paying out tax refunds.
This follows a
revelation earlier this year that tax inspectors were hiding the fact that
hundreds of thousands of homes could be paying too much council tax. The tax
officials kept quiet about the information to save money and save
face.
·Five
pubs closing every day: The British
Beer & Pub Association has estimated that pubs are now closing at the rate
of 36 a week - five a day. They are paying a heavy price for smoking ban,
fragile consumer confidence, ruthless competition from supermarkets and – not
least – higher beer taxes imposed by Gordon Brown.
·Government
guidance on taxing pubs: Parliamentary
Questions have brought to light unpublished internal guidance by the Valuation
Office Agency (an arm of HM Revenue & Customs) on how local firms should be
charged business rates. It admits that they have been giving out the wrong
advice to firms on the effect of the smoking ban. Until recently, tax inspectors
refused to give any business rate reduction for the loss of custom due to the
ban. Their latest guidance now admits – thanks to advice from top lawyers – that
the smoking ban represents a ‘material change’. Pubs can use this to make a
claim for a lower ‘rateable value’ and so cut their yearly rates bill. For
example, a £5,000 reduction in rateable value would save publicans £2,300 a year
in tax.
·Local
firms kept in the dark: Pubs can only
apply for this tax cut if they make an appeal and fill out complex paperwork.
The Government has made no announcement about potential refunds to local pubs
across England and Wales.
The Government is happy to hike tax bills, but it will not tell people when
their bills could fall. Business rates are the third biggest cost to local
firms after rent and staff costs.
Tamworth & Edingale’s Conservative Parliamentary
Spokesman, Christopher Pincher, has taken his Cost of Living campaign to rural
Edingale which is in Lichfield District but which is also part of Tamworth parliamentary constituency.
Conservatives believe the government’s reckless
borrowing plans, together with their raft of stealth taxes, will lead a massive
tax sting for local people in the future. They are campaigning for the
government to keep out of people’s pockets. Mr. Pincher wants the
government to scrap its plans to introduce the unpopular Vehicle Excise Duty
which will add over £100 to many families motoring bills.
Local House Building Slows Down as Repossessions Rise
Sunday, 19 October 2008
The
slowdown in the housing market is now biting in Tamworth
the Conservative’s Parliamentary Spokesman, Christopher Pincher says.
Until
recently a magnet for brown field site building, housing developments in
Tamworth are now becoming ghost towns of deserted building sites and unsold new
properties. On Quarry Hill, flats built a year ago are being offered “to
move in” for £99. In Two Gates building work has slowed right down
whilst on the old Dumulos Farm site on Dumulos Lane, no one seems to be working.
Mr.
Pincher said:
“I
was out with my team in Glascote village campaigning for action to reduce the
cost of living on hard pressed families. Walking past deserted developments
like the one in Dumulos Lane
brings home to you just how the credit crunch is biting. The construction
industry – which employs many people directly or indirectly – is on
its knees. At the same time the horror of home loss is being realised by more
and more people. In just a few hundred yards I saw three houses with
repossession notices in their windows – one in Wyvern and two on the Glascote Road.
Three empty houses which were once people’s homes.”
“Action
is needed to help the housing market and to help hard pressed families keep
down the cost of living so they can hang onto their homes.”