Who will you vote for?

[WideWebWitch]

I can't stand Bliar, really don't know what to vote, anyone else finding this hard?

think I'd prefer local income tax actually - yes Mr. accountant may have money in his offshore account - but for those families on lower incomes, but living in 'expensive' houses (due to the rapid price increases) it would mean they could afford it.

Put our figures in the calculator thing and it looks like we'd be a fair bit better off.

Saw a programme with it featured the other day though and they were using an example of 3 teachers living together each on 23k. They were horrified that their council/poll/local income tax would increase but they didn't seem to realise it was between 3 of them and they had a joint income of 60 odd thousand! Quite fair I thought?

I would vote LibDem if I thought it would make any difference, it's just a Tory vote by default though. So I think I'll stay in bed that day and hope that the rest of you make the right decision

we pay some of the highest council tax in England here but I still wouldn't want it based on income - I think it would severely hamper those boroughs who have a large proportion of low earners.

I am in favour of a hike on council tax for second homes. At the moment, I think you can actually get a discount! I saw a programme about houses in Cornwall and there was a family (from London) who said they would be quite happy to pay the full council tax or more on their holiday house but the council only levied 50% (probably because it's vacant for part of the year I guess).

Labour, like everyone says they have done so much for the families, like tax credits, surestart and the free nursery places for 3 year olds. There is no way my i could afford daytrips out but we get 3 free ones a year with surestart and if i had to pay for my son to go to nursery he would'nt be going cus we have'nt got the money. The tax credits mean we can live a comfortable life without treats and holidays so that i can stay at home to raise my son.

Well, i probably won't be able to vote as we're moving and won't be on the electoeral register at the new address. Would probably have voted Labour, the blue rinse brigade in the Tory Party scare me and I'm slightly concerned that the LibDems think £28k is a high income. Used to vote Plaid Cymru for sentimental reasons (my taid was a PC MP) but don't have that option any more.

Sacha3taylor wrote:
'I am a SAHM and under the currant tax credit system i am lucky enough not to HAVE to go to work. I do think that if the conservitives got in then under their proposals to scrap the currant system i would probebly have to work. I realise that lots of mums don't have a choice but i think that this is a very important issue and working should be through choice and not neccesity. I also disagree with alot of other things he has done but my family is most important to me'

My husband is a SAHD b/c of tax credits, so yes, we'll be voting Labour as well.

and to summarise my appallingly ramblings...

libdems - we have a great local MP but I just don't think their figures add up. I think we would end up paying loads more tax and I'm not sure their financial management is up to much

tories - don't think the leader is right and not sure the right team is in place. To be fair to Howard though, Blair has stolen a lot of their policies and put them in place. Think Blair has moved so much further to the right that he has stolen most of Howard's ground and the tories are left not knowing where to pitch their stall so to speak.

labour - blair won't be around for much longer (a good point I think) but labour have done a lot for people on lower incomes (like my sister and her husband, both teachers). They've done OK with the economy so far and that does impact all of us. Would probably feel most comfortable voting for them.

but they haven't really helped those on low incomes - they've taken away with one hand (higher taxes) and given it back with the other!!!

local income tax would def be fairer, but it should be regional, not borough by borough (to get around the low earners thing). Properties owned by foreign residents should be taxed on the value of the property. That's exactly what they do in Spain, in fact (though I'm not a cheerleader for the Spanish system in general).

Labour may have done some good things, but if they get back in with another huge majority, they'll see it as a vindication of their foreign policy/environment policy (integrated transport policy anyone?)/PFI and I really don't want that to happen.

Actually they should do proportional elections by policy, not by party, with multi-party cabinets.

Properties owned by foreign residents should be taxed on the value of the property.

No thank you very much! My DH is a permanent resident in the UK, he pays the same taxes as everyone else - why should he have to pay a different amount of 'local' tax just because he's a foreigner - he's bought this house with a mortgage just the same as our neighbours have!!

they have certainly helped my sister and husband. They are both far better off with the WFTC. It makes no difference to us as we earn 'too much' for the system to work but it has helped them definitely.

Same here, foxinsox! WFTC and CTC are the reasons we're able to improve our lives and I'm able to start my law course in Autumn. Hope the repay the favour when I'm able to earn more and pay more tax.

but if you weren't having to pay more 'stealth' taxes you'd have more money anyhow - the amount of things we get charge tax (or Vat) on would probably be MORE in value than the WFTC or CTC!

what are these stealth taxes i keep hearing about?

things like the congestion charge do you mean?

have labour changed VAT since they've been in?

I seriously doubt that in my case, Gwenick. Very, very seriously.

No idea who I will vote for yet. Have to have a bit of a read first I think. Trouble is none of them actually tell the truth do they? And I have yet to be better off under them too.

BTW, I got MA instead of SMP. Only difference is that first 4-6 weeks when I had it. Rest of it is at same level. Isn't mat leave going up to 9 months or something?

yes. and I think this sort of general apathy could be a serious problem, as could pave way for extremists/racist groups to get a foothold in the foreseeable future.

sd - vat lowred by gb. 5% on fuel, sanitary protection, car seat blah blah blah

WFTC does make a big diff to low earners. I did the sums for my sister and without it, I don't know what they would do (they certainly wouldn't be teaching in London, that much I know!).

The two taxes I have a major problem with are stamp duty and inheritance tax (basically a second tax on your lifetime earnings). The problem is they've become so lucrative for the government that they don't want to make huge cuts in them.

Stamp duty
Capital Gains Tax
Company car Tax up
Petrol taxes up
NI increase

To name just a few

What's the problem with IHT? Seriously, if you're maarried.

sorry tinker, i'm woefully uninformed about these things - labour have upped or introduced VAT on fuel/sanpro/carseats?

SD - lowered to 5% from 17.5%

my problem is, i always want to like labour