Tories promise to reduce council tax for pensioners

Conservative leader Michael Howard has pledged to reduce council tax payments for pensioners, if the party win at the next General Election.

Mr Howard said that, under a Conservative government, households where all adults are aged 65 and over would have their council tax bills halved, up to a maximum value of £500. He said that this measure would ensure that five million pensioners would have their council tax bills reduced.

The Conservatives have estimated that 3.8 million households will qualify for the discounts, which they say will not be means-tested.

The announcement is the first in a series of targeted tax cuts from the Conservatives, worth £1.3 billion, which they claim will benefit over five million people in the UK.

Speaking at a press conference in central London, the Conservative leader said: "People will face a clear choice at the election: Conservatives who will give pensioners dignity, security and respect by increasing the state pension and cutting their council tax or Mr Blair, who will forget them and raise their council tax."

Mr Howard said that pensioners were the group hardest hit by council tax rises because they were on fixed incomes: "Many of them served our country at her greatest hour of need, preserving liberty, freedom and Britain's independence for future generations. Those who have given so much must surely be given their due."

The Conservatives Shadow Chancellor, Oliver Letwin, added: "It is right that we should use a third of the £4 billion available for tax cuts in our first Budget to help the vulnerable and to reverse one of Mr Blair's most unfair stealth taxes."

The Conservatives also pledged to protect pensioners' existing benefits, such as the Pension Credit, winter fuel allowance, free prescriptions, concessionary travel and TV licenses.

Liberal Democrat Shadow to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Edward Davey, criticised the Conservatives plans, saying that they failed to target the most vulnerable pensioners. He said: "Michael Howard has finally realised that the tax that he and his Party introduced is an unfair burden. But he wouldn't scrap it. The Liberal Democrat proposals to scrap council tax will save the average pensioner far more than the Tory plans, with more than half of pensioners paying no local income tax at all."

Mr Davey also warned: "Pensioners should be wary that this is a promise based on uncosted figures and a cheque from the Conservatives is going to bounce. Scrapping council tax is the only way to make local tax fair and get the most help to vulnerable pensioners."

(KMcA/SP)