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Tory Tax Breaks For Married Couples Rubbished
By Daniel Leach
SHOPPERS in Manchester have rubbished new Tory proposals to provide tax breaks for married couples.
David Cameron’s Conservatives have promised an annual £150 gift for earners of below £44,000 should they be elected.
But one interviewee in Piccadilly Gardens dismissed this as ‘a drop in the ocean’.
Sue Lewis, a 56-year-old Estate Agent from Didsbury, said: “The politicians don’t realise what is going on.
“They promise the world and cannot deliver it.
“Next week they will think up something else to try to win everyone over.”
Many said the plan, which also applies to civil partners, was not going far enough compared to the amount of money the bankers had lost.
Under the scheme, part of the Conservative manifesto, non-working partners can transfer some of their unused tax-free allowance to the working partner.
Yet it was feared the overall effect of this might be to remove funds from other vital areas.
Terry Jones, a 45-year-old from Leyland who is currently unemployed, said: “I don’t see this as a good incentive.
“It’s just taking money away from one area and putting it somewhere else – next thing you know the military aren’t getting enough funding”.
Only a few of those asked felt positive about the scheme.
Chris Patterson, a 19-year-old Bolton student, said:
“It’s not very much but every little bit helps I suppose.”
The initiative is part of Conservative leader David Cameron’s plans for overhauling the tax system and is no doubt hoping for a more positive public reaction on Election Day.
