Tax Cut For Over 275,000 People In Cambridgeshire

On 6 April 2012 the Personal Allowance will be raised for the second year in a row, meaning that 276,900 people in Cambridgeshire will get a £130 Income Tax cut and the number people in the area who have been lifted out of paying any Income Tax will reach 8,200.

Julian Huppert, Member of Parliament for Cambridge, said “when the Liberal Democrats first came into office, millions of low-paid workers were paying a higher proportion of their income in tax than the richest were. This was clearly unfair.

“We have made reducing the tax burden on the very poorest a priority, a promise that was on the front page of our manifesto.   Over 20m basic-rate taxpayers have received a £330 tax cut since the Coalition Government came into power. We will continue to increase the Personal Allowance, the threshold at which people start paying Income Tax, until it reaches £10,000. This means that someone working full-time on the minimum wage will have had their Income Tax bill halved.

“At the same time, the Liberal Democrats are making sure the rich pay their fair share, by closing loopholes, introducing a tycoon tax and cracking down on tax avoidance. All of this will mean that the richest pay five times more than they did under the 50p tax rate. As we clean up the economic mess Labour left behind, it is right that the broadest shoulders bear the heaviest burdens.”

The Personal Allowance, also known as the Income Tax threshold, will rise to £8,105 on 6 April 2012, up from £6,475 under Labour.

In the early 1970s, the Personal Allowance was worth around 28% of average earnings. By 2010 that had dropped to around 20% as wages had outpaced the increase in the Allowance.