Lib Dems plan to axe council tax
Liberal Democrats today put themselves firmly at the head of the anti-council tax campaign with a call to "axe the tax".
Party activists at the Brighton conference backed demands to scrap council tax and replace it with local income tax to pay for services.
A bid to refer the issue back for fear of fuelling house price inflation was overwhelmingly rejected.
As protests against rising levels of council tax gathered pace nationwide, party spokesman Edward Davey said the Liberal Democrats must lead the anti-tax movement.
"We need to send a powerful message to the Government. It's a message that literally millions of people want us to send.
"It's a message that the pensioners, from Brent East to Brighton, want us to send.
"And it's a message anyone who cares about fair taxes wants us to send - scrap council tax."
Mr Davey said that as the only major party wanting to "axe the tax", the Liberal Democrats must act as the voice of pensioners and the low-paid wanting change.
"Council tax is now the most unfair tax in Britain," he said. "The whole system is riddled with unfairness. It's frankly astounding that after six years of a Labour Government, the state takes relatively more in tax from the country's poorest than it takes from the richest."
