Howard Sykes, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in Oldham, has signed a letter calling on the Chancellor to introduce a threshold of £10,000 in earnings before deduction of income tax. The letter, endorsed by the leaders of Liberal Democrat Groups across the country, says,

“Dear Chancellor,
“We lead Liberal Democrat council groups across the country and are calling on you to listen to the Lib Dem call to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000 faster than originally planned.”
“Giving working people on lower incomes more support has to be a top priority. This will mean over two and a half million low wage earners across the country will not have to pay any income tax at all – and other lower earners will still get a substantial tax cut.”
“As councillors from across the country, we see and talk to these people every week. They are people like the working mum whose salary has not increased in recent years and is struggling with rising bills or the young person in his first job who is struggling to make ends meet, worried about unexpected bills and repairs.”
“We have heard many times about the need to make tough choices in these difficult times. One choice the government should make is to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share and speed up the plan for the burden to be lifted on the poorest.
This also means that if there is ever any reduction in the 50p top rate of income tax then new taxes that target the rich must be introduced so the wealthy pay their share.”

Howard said, “We shall see later today as to whether George Osbourne has listened to our argument, but make no mistake, we shall continue to make it because we believe it is the right thing to do for the people who trust us to represent them.”