Stephen Tall

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 570 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Overwhelming support for ‘further and faster’ tax-cuts for low-paid

LDV asked: The Coalition is committed to increasing the level at which income tax becomes payable, from its current £7,475 to £10,000 by 2015. The tax-free threshold was expected to rise by about £630 annually. However, in a recent speech Nick Clegg said, “I want the Coalition to go further and faster in delivering the full £10,000 allowance, because the pressure on family finances is reaching boiling point.” Do you support or oppose the income tax allowance being raised to £10,000 as an immediate priority for the Coalition?

97% – Support
2% – Oppose
1% – Don’t know / No opinion

Well, I think that result is fairly definitive: a North Korean-esque 97% of Lib Dem members in our survey back Nick Clegg’s calls for accelerated tax-cuts for the low-paid. Here are some of your comments:

It takes the working poorest out of tax altogether – should be done immediately.

There seems to be little reason to delay doing this immediately. It’s not that we can’t afford it. We choose not to be able to afford it.

However, it would be more progressive to raise the National Insurance thresholds.

Provided we take equal action to recoup the cost through increased crackdowns on tax evasion etc.

We should aim to increase the threshold to £10k as soon as possible and then press for it to be further raised to the level of the minimum wage – after that, bring back the 10p rate up to the level of the “living wage” in each region.

Support – so long as the rise can be afforded without further expansion of the deficit

I support the idea of the minimum wage level being the income tax threshold

It should be the number 1 priority and we should seek to go further.

* Stephen Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, and also writes at his own site, The Collected Stephen Tall.