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.

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·          Government guidance on taxing pubs: Parliamentary Questions have brought to light unpublished internal guidance by the Valuation Office Agency (an arm of HM Revenue & Customs) on how local firms should be charged business rates.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.

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.”