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Davey Sees a Green
Tax Switch
23.10.06
This
Saturday, Kingston and
Surbiton’s MP, Edward
Davey, was out on the streets outside Marks and Spencer’s Kingston
(Clarence
Street) giving out leaflets explaining the
Liberal Democrats’ national campaign for
a Green Tax Switch - shifting taxes to help stop climate change.
Edward
Davey, Liberal
Democrat MP for Kingston and Surbiton,
wanted to
raise awareness in Kingston
about the dangers of climate change and the need for “real action, not
photo
opportunities” and to spell out the Liberal Democrats’ new Green Tax
Switch
policy. The Green Tax Switch will switch
taxes from work onto taxes on carbon emissions and other pollutants.
Not only
will it start to make a difference to climate change, it will also be a
fairer
tax as it will lift 2 million people from paying income tax altogether.
Speaking after a day campaigning on
the street stall,
Edward Davey said:
“Local
people were alarmed to see our map showing over half
of Britain
would be under water if the polar ice caps melt. Many people understand
that
climate change needs urgent action by Governments and were interested
in our
ideas of income tax cuts linked with new tough environmental taxes.
“A number of people
said that there is no point politicians doing photo ops hugging husky
dogs and
riding bicycles, if they don’t put forward real policies. One resident
said,
they’d ride a bicycle if they also had a chauffeur to carry their suit!
People
wanted real policies not soundbites, and we got a really positive
reaction to
our ideas.
Background
http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/greentaxswitch
Liberal
Democrats want fair tax, not more tax.
he
Liberal Democrats have a firm plan to take real action – the green tax
switch.
- Will give
everyone a green income tax cut, of 2p in the pound, giving the average
family an extra £1,000 a year in their pocket. (Liberal Democrats
will also scrap the unfair Council Tax).
- Will then
increase green taxes as a share of national income. (Green taxes have
fallen from 3.6 per cent of GDP in 1999 to just 2.9 per cent of GDP in
2005).
- Will keep
fuel duty in line with inflation to ensure there is always an incentive
to save fuel.
- Will
abolish Airport Taxes, which tax each passenger, and instead we will
tax each plane that takes off on its emissions. This would reward full
flights and penalise half-empty ones
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