SCP: Seniors welcome Darling fix . . But

The Senior Citizens Party (www.seniorcitizensparty.org.uk), which represents the 20.6 million Seniors, age 50 or over, who make up 43% of the voting population, welcomes the Chancellor's announcement of an increase of £600 in the personal tax allowance to compensate the 5.3 million of the poorest members of our society who had their tax bill increased by the abolition of the 10% tax band, and is particularly pleased that this will take 600,000 people on low incomes out of income tax altogether. BUT . . . this is only one step in the right direction. The fundamental aim of the Senior Citizens Party is to create a better and fairer society, not just for Seniors, but for everyone, and it has consistently campaigned for the personal income tax threshold to be raised to the poverty level, currently about £11,000 per year. Party Leader Grahame Leon-Smith said: "It makes no sense at all to tax people who are below the poverty level and then require them to fill in complicated forms in order to claim back some of the tax through tax credits, a system which costs millions of pounds to administer, and successfully deters at least one third of those entitled to the credit from even applying." (Cynics say that this is part of the Government's strategy to reduce expenditure !) The Senior Citizens Party maintains that raising the personal tax allowance to the poverty level would virtually abolish the need for the tax credit system, would provide massive savings in Government bureaucracy, and would also solve the problem of the many thousands of people who are currently living on state benefits and who are reluctant to work because they would be worse off financially. Why can the Chancellor not see this ?

ENDS


NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Senior Citizens Party represents the largest demographic group in the UK, the 20.6 million people age 50 or over who make up 43% of the voting population.

For further information, a quote or an interview, please contact the Party Leader, Grahame Leon-Smith on 01932-874303 (Direct Line) or Mobile: 07509 047363.