Cllr. Gavin Ayling

Update Thanks to good observation by Chris, I think I was having a junior moment. I have rewritten the following in English!

The following is from CCHQ and I agree with it all:

Among the Liberal Democrats’ plans for over 40 new taxes are:
• VAT on new homes. Liberal Democrats would make homes less affordable by slapping VAT on new housing – inflicting a stealth tax on homeowners, especially first time buyers. New homes currently do not pay VAT. They advocate ‘new homes paying VAT at our new harmonised lower VAT rate’ (Liberal Democrats, Affordable Homes in Safer, Greener Communities, Policy Paper 69, November 2004, p.20). VAT at 7 per cent would add £12,000 to the cost of an average new home in the UK.
• Tax to park at work or to shop. They would ‘establish private non-residential parking levies (including out-of-town retail and workplace parking)’ (Liberal Democrats, Policies for Transport, Policy Briefing 24, March 2003).
• Pensions tax. Liberal Democrats stated yesterday that they would raise £3 billion by scrapping tax relief on private pensions for higher rate tax-payers (The Daily Telegraph, 9 June 2006). This would further weaken pension saving.
• Hotel tax. The Liberal Democrats’ official policy backs a new tax on hotel bills which would undermine local tourism and destroy jobs. Noting that ‘the state of Florida has a strong state tourism association funded by a small sales tax on accommodation bills’, they back a ‘levy added to accommodation bills’ (Liberal Democrats, Rural Futures, Policy Paper 52, August 2002, p. 29-30).
• Second homes tax. Liberal Democrats have already called for 200 per cent council tax on second homes (Policy motion passed at Liberal Democrat Party Conference, September 2003). Under local income tax, this would be replaced by punishing business rates on second homes (Liberal Democrats, Scrap Council Tax: Liberal Democrat plans to replace council tax with a local income tax, January 2004).
• Capital gains tax hikes. Their announcement yesterday included plans to increase capital gains tax on second homes and share holdings by axing allowances and reliefs (The Daily Telegraph, 8 June 2006). Liberal Democrats had previously called for abolishing capital gain tax exemptions on homes at death, which would act as a ‘double whammy’