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* * * News for 20^th March 2004 * * *

All of Medway: 20^th March 2004

Although this is mainly a national issue rather than local, the effect on the nation's Council Tax charges is one of the 66 tax rises that the Blair government has introduced since coming to power in 1997.

The 2004 Budget Red Book has revealed six new tax rises—that is, changes to the tax system that will generate income for the Exchequer other than anti-avoidance measures. These items appear in Tables A1 and A2 on pages 186–188 of the Red Book, and are as follows:

1. Small Business Tax: minimum of 19% of corporation tax
2. Company Vans: increase scale charge from £110 to £3,000
3. UK-UK Transfer Pricing: extension of transfer rules to include UK-UK transactions
4. Trusts: a number of reforms including tax rate rise from 34% to 40%
5. Red Diesel: a 57% increase in duty from 4·43p to 6·64p
6. Other road fuels: a 45% increase in duty from 5·4p to 7·82p

These latest six increases add to the 60 already imposed in the six preceding years. Just to put this fully into public view, here they all are, listed by the year they were announced:

2nd July 1997	17th March 1998	9th March 1999	21st March 2000	17th April 2002	9th April 2003
Mortgage tax relief cut	Married couple's allowance cut	NIC earnings limit raised	Extra taxation of life assurance companies	Personal Allowances frozen	VAT on electronically-supplied services
Stamp Duty up for properties over £250,000	Higher Stamp Duty rates up	Higher rates of Stamp Duty up again	Higher rates of Stamp Duty up again	New Stamp Duty regime	IR35 applied to domestic workers
Tobacco duty escalator up	Tax concession for certain professions abolished	Tobacco duty escalator brought forward	Tobacco duties up	NIC for employers up	Betting Duty change
Pensions Tax	Tax on travel insurance up	NICs for self-employed up	Rules on Controlled Foreign Companies extended	NIC for employees up	Tax on red diesel and fuel oil up
Vehicle Excise Duty up	Tax relief for foreign earnings abolished	Insurance premium Tax up		National Insurance threshold frozen	Vehicle Excise Duty up
Health insurance taxed	Tax on casinos & gaming machines up	Married Couple's Allowance abolished		NIC for self-employed up	Controlled Foreign Companies measures on Ireland
Health insurance taxed again	Tax on company cars up	IR35: taxation of personal services companies		North Sea taxation up
Fuel tax escalator up	Fuel tax escalator brought forward	Company car mileage allowances restricted		Tax on some alcoholic drinks up
Corporation Tax changes	Corporation Tax payments brought forward	Employer NICs extended to all benefits-in-kind		New rules on loan relationships
New Windfall Tax on utilities	Reinvestment relief restricted	VAT on some banking services
	Capital Gains Tax imposed on certain non-residents	Premiums paid to tenants by landlords taxed
	Some hydrocarbon duties up	Duty on minor oils up
	Additional diesel suties	Vehicle Excise Duties for lorries up
	Landfill Tax up	Landfill Tax escalator introduced
		Mortgage tax relief abolished
		Vocational Training Relief abolished

...and finally, every April, Council Tax up throughout the country as a result of central government underfunding—a clear stealth tax by the Blair government.

Say what you like, New Labour is still really Old Labour dressed up to look almost Conservative. The above proves it on the issue of taxation alone, regardless of Tony Blair's claim that he had "no plans to increase tax at all".

As always with Labour, this government is completely and utterly in BITS—Borrow, pay Interest, Tax, and Spend.