The calendar may say April 6th but the view from my study window suggests deepest Winter this morning as the fields and hills in the distance are covered with a blanket of snow.
For millions of families across Britain and thousands of people in Bury, Ramsbottom and Tottington today marks the day when the new tax changes announced last year by Gordon Brown come into effect, and the effect will be to make them poorer. These are not the wealthy families who you might think Labour would be taxing more but workers who are earning less than around £18,000 a year. So for example a shop assistant earning £8000 a year will pay £212 more each year in tax. The reason for this increase in tax is that the 10% income tax band which applied to the first £2,230 of taxable income has been abolished from today.This means that instead of paying tax of £223 on this income it will double to the new starting rate of 20% meaning tax of £446. Coupled with higher Council Tax, higher taxes on a pint of beer or a glass of wine, soaring fuel prices and higher car taxes on the way there is little wonder that people are begining to feel the pinch under Labour.
On Friday evening I gave the toast to the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns at a ( belated ) Burns Supper organised by St. Anne’s Church in Tottington. It was a great evening although I have to say I have no natural talent for Scottish dancing!
David Nuttall 