Oxford - 9th October 2007

Commenting on the Chancellor's pre-budget report today, Peter Tatchell, the Green Party candidate for Oxford East, said:

 
“Labour is simply stealing Tory ideas. There is no green skies thinking in this pre-budget report.

“The increased threshold for inheritance tax is based on a flawed Tory idea. It would be much fairer to subject beneficiaries to income tax on their inheritance, as this would take into account their overall income.

“Raising the inheritance tax to £700,000 by 2010 will mostly benefit already well-off families, exempting them from tax while doing nothing for poorer families.

“Taxing flights is not much better than taxing passengers. The most effective way to encourage a reduction in aircraft carbon emissions is a tax on aviation fuel.

“The Chancellor has failed guarantee that air taxes will be ring-fenced to fund measures to combat climate change. Right now the air passenger duty is just disappearing into the exchequer.

“These are not real green taxes at all. In fact, this pre-budget report contains no concerted policies to halt the drift towards devastating climate change.

Ends