LibDem government would not raise taxes
LibDem leader Charles Kennedy pledged no overall increases in personal or company taxation as he launched his draft general election manifesto a week before his party's annual conference in Bournemouth.
Link: LibDems propose scrapping of DTI
But he and shadow chancellor Matthew Taylor retained plans to increase income tax on those receiving £100,000 more a year to 50%, to be spent scrapping university fees, care charges for the elderly, a higher pension for the over-75s and easing in local income tax in place of council tax.
Taylor said there would be ‘green taxes’, instancing a switch from Air Passenger Duty on passengers to a tax on aeroplanes to encourage more efficient use, but promised these would not be designed overall to increase taxation.