Haringey Liberal Democrats have criticised the long awaited release, on 21st March 2007, of the Lyons Report into local government funding. The Liberal Democrats say that the review does not go far enough to combat the unfairness of the current Council Tax system and that tweaking the existing system, as the Lyons Report suggests, will only perpetuate the tax burden on Haringey residents, especially the elderly.

The report proposes the introduction of two new Council Tax bands at either end of the spectrum – a new band for the most expensive homes and an additional lower one for the cheapest properties, changes to the Council Tax Benefit system and a tourist or bed tax as an extra source of local authority income.

Haringey Liberal Democrats believe that Liberal Democrat alternative proposal of a Local Income Tax would provide a solution to the Council Tax problem rather than the fudge proposals set out by Lyons.

Cllr Neil Williams, Leader of the Lib Dem Opposition comments:

“This report has achieved remarkably little for a lot of effort. Three years of talking, and no fair alternative to the unfair Council Tax has been put forward.

“What we need is a local income tax based fully on the ability of local residents to pay. No amount of hugely expensive re-banding, or revaluation of properties will solve the key problem of the Council Tax – it is a very unfair tax which a lot of people simply can’t afford to pay.

“Council Tax was created by the Conservatives after the disaster of the Poll Tax but it has done nothing to make local taxation fairer. Labour have kept this Conservative invention going and are merely tinkering with it rather than scrapping it.”

For more information on Liberal Democrat Local Income Tax proposals and to sign the petition see www.axethetax.org.uk