The Big Green Tax Switch - Proposals to Cut Income Tax by 2p

2.21.42pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 8th Jun 2006

Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell MP has unveiled plans to protect and improve our environment with a major "green tax switch".

The party wants to cut income tax for everyone, and take millions of the least well off out of income tax altogether, whilst instead taxing pollution more heavily.

"We are the only major party which takes the environment seriously and that does mean that environmental taxes will rise, but we will also cut income tax by 2p in the pound and take around three million people out of income tax completely. This will be good news not just for our environment but for everyone who will benefit from income tax cuts," said Ming Campbell.

Michael German, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the National Assembly for Wales added: "This is a very radical and important shift in taxation to reflect the environmental issues facing us. Instead of taxing people of earning and saving, Ming is proposing that taxation starts to target the activities that damage the environment, our communities, our children and ourselves.

"The lowest paid 10 per cent of people of this country pay more of their take home pay than the top 20 per cent of wage earners. This is a disgrace. Two million people on the lowest wages will now be taken out of taxation and that is very good news for thousands of families in Wales. There's little point of a national minimum wage when they are heavily stung for tax."

You can read his speech in full and watch a video interview with him at http://www.libdems.org.uk/menzies-campbell-speech.html