The Liberal Democrats believe in replacing Council Tax with local income tax because (unlike Council Tax) it is related to ability to pay and it is not based on a theoretical valuation of your home.
The change would be made as part of a package of tax reform which would include significantly raising the threshold at which people start to pay tax.
Locally, the Conservatives have made a complete mess of budgeting over the last 4 years. They started with a plan for increasing Council tax by 9.3% in the first year and fractionally less in each of the following three years. They said that these increases were needed for the Council to achieve its objectives. As the Lib Dems warned at the time it would, the Government ‘capped’ the Council – forcing it to reduce its increase to 5% and spend thousands of pounds on re-billing.
The following year, having learned that they weren’t going to get away with 9% increases, they produced a budget that showed that they could achieve their aims on increases of just under 5% each year. They claim not to have changed those aims, so we can only conclude that either:
1) their original plan to charge 9% a year was not justified even on their own terms; or
2) their new plan to charge 5%, concealed changes to their plans and aspirations but they weren’t going to tell anyone what they were; or
3) they don’t know what they are doing with our money; or
4) any combination of the above.
That budget broke the capping limit too but not by enough for the Government do take action
Subsequent Tory budgets has muddled along with no apparent medium or long term strategy – balancing the books by the use of reserves (which they had increased to levels far above those that they criticized the Liberal Democrats for) and the use of interest on the money that they got from selling off our Council Houses. This is not a strategy; it is pure luck that they can make the books balance.
Meanwhile, the Tory run County slashes expenditure where it is easiest and shows no strategy either. For instance, pushing back speed limit reviews, at a risk to life and limb, and closing the County Museum on Sunday. The day that is most important for attracting tourists and supporting the economy of the area.
A Lib Dem controlled AVDC would:
Review, with appropriate public consultation, the Council’s strategic priorities. A lot has changed since these were last publicly reviewed and gaining agreement on the priorities for our area is fundamental to good budgeting.
Work more closely with the Local Government Association to lobby government for fair funding of additional responsibilities placed on local authorities by them. The Conservatives have virtually ignored the LGA, yet it is an effective voice for local government at national level and needs to be seen to have the active support of local authorities.
Seek radical changes to the way that the Council works. In particular we would look for opportunities to work with other authorities doing similar types of activity to gain economies of scale and other efficiencies. We would not restrict co-operation to Buckinghamshire – AVDC has much in common with neighbouring authorities in beds, Northants and Oxon
Seek to extend the ‘one stop shop’ approach used in Buckingham to Aylesbury and consider working with other authorities as appropriate. Members of the public often have no idea which authority is responsible for which service, so a common point of contact would benefit customers as well as being more cost efficient.
Provide the services that people need as cost effectively as possible. The Tories like to claim that we are a high tax party. We are not but we are a party that believes that Local Government has a crucial role to play in improving the quality of life in Aylesbury Vale. Between 1994 and 1998, we introduced about £2 million of new services without increasing the Council’s spending. Council Tax only went up because of reduced Government grant. We never got near being capped, whereas our local Tories have exceeded the government’s limit on increases in Council spending twice in four years.
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