Conservative plans for Council tax benefit the wealthy, not the vulnerable.

Conservative plans to give everyone over 65 a rebate on their council tax were attacked by Totnes Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Mike Treleaven as 'an unfair and totally inadequate way of dealing with the problem of high council tax'. Speaking after the Michael Howard's announcement he said:

'Mr Howard's proposals give people reductions regardless of their means and will still mean pensioners on low incomes are paying a huge proportion of their income in council tax. It does nothing to address the problem of pensioners with modest savings but low incomes who fail to qualify for a council tax rebate, it does nothing to address the problems of low wage earners and it does nothing to address the problems revaluation will cause in the next few years.'

'Here in the Totnes constituency' Mike Treleaven continued ' we have thousands of people on low wages and retirement incomes who will still end up paying huge amounts of council tax. It is no surprise that Mr. Howard wants to keep this tax, after all he was the man that introduced it! This is a rebate to be paid for from the fantasy savings the conservatives think they will achieve and is a cheque that is likely to bounce. The only fair way to deal with this problem is to axe the council tax and replace it with local income tax'