CONSERVATIVES TAKE A HOLD OF TAX

The news that Brighton and Hove City Council’s Conservative-led Administration has just passed a Council Tax rise of just 2.5% (the lowest in the City Council’s history) means that if a Conservative Government is elected, then tax rises for local people will actually be zero from 2011/12.
 
The Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, has recently confirmed that any Council which keeps its Council Tax rise to 2.5% will receive an additional subsidy from Central Government which will allow Councils to freeze Council Tax and no rises will be allowed.
 
The Council Tax in Brighton and Hove rose 124% in the ten years Labour ran the Council and since 2007, when the Conservative have led the Administration tax rises have been reducing with a lower figure each financial year.
 
Keeping Council Tax under control is a key part of Conservative philosophy in that government, at whatever level, should only take in taxes the amount needed to fund the public services. Our plans at national level to cut back the deficit will keep taxes under control in the future and locally Conservative-run Councils are showing that they can keep taxes within reason while delivering real improvements in services for local residents. Brighton and Hove Council is now rated a 4 star ‘excellent’ Council, for example.