Promise Kept: Delivering a £700 Tax Cut for Shepway

Wednesday's Budget announced that the Income Tax Personal Allowance will be raised to £10,000 in April 2014 - one year sooner than had been expected. This means 37,600 ordinary working people in Shepway will get a further Income Tax cut, bringing the total tax cut to £700 a year since Liberal Democrats joined the Coalition Government.

In Shepway, the raising of the Personal Income Tax Allowance to £10,000 also means 3,280 low-earners will have been lifted out of paying Income Tax altogether thanks to Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government.

Folkestone West County Councillor Tim Prater commented:

"The Liberal Democrats are working for a stronger economy and a fairer society.

"When times are tough, with rising bills and wages not keeping pace with inflation, cutting taxes for ordinary working people is real, practical help.

"Cutting Income Tax does not deal with all of those problems, but it does help. It will make a big difference to families across Shepway: more of their hard earned money in their pocket - not in the Government's."

"It's also why the Government have scrapped another of Labour's fuel duty rises. Filling up your car will be £7 cheaper than under Labour plans. The FairFuelUK campaign - led from here in Shepway - is being heard and listened to."

Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government have increased the amount of money you can earn tax-free every year. In April 2014 it will be raised to £10,000, a total tax cut of £700 a year for nearly 25m people. In 2014, someone working full-time on the minimum wage will see their Income Tax bill cut by more than half compared to what they were paying under Labour.

By April 2014 we will have taken 2.7m low-income workers out of paying tax altogether: the majority women. The £700 tax cut means, for the average family, we have cut the Income Tax bill by a third. It is enough for a working couple to pay their council tax or combined gas and electricity bills for a year.

Whilst they were in Government, Labour cut tax for millionaires every single year until their last month, while increasing tax on low earners by scrapping the 10p tax rate. Under Labour, someone on the Minimum Wage paid £1,000 in Income Tax. The Liberal Democrats in Government have cut their tax bill by more than half.