21st March 2007

Cllr Bernard Little said "The Green Party budget is a package of measures to cut carbon emissions, improve the quality of people's lives, redistribute wealth to the less well off and support local businesses".

A Green Party budget would:

1. Tax gas guzzling cars, restore the fuel duty escalator and increase air passenger duty, saving 7.5% of CO2 emissions in the first year.
2. Spend £3bn on an emergency home insulation programme and an extra £3bn on buses and cheaper rail fares.
3. Introduce a new 60% income tax on people who earn over £100,000.
4. Increase pensions to £100 a week, end means testing for personal care for the elderly, increase Child Benefit by £5 a week and spend £1.4bn on building social housing.
5. Spend £200 million a year on support for co-operative businesses and training while changing VAT measures to help local tourism.

Notes

• Taxing gas guzzling cars (£1,800 for a tax disc would raise £8bn.)
• Restore the Fuel duty escalator over 2 years to what it would have been if it had not been abandoned in 1999. (Effect: Fuel would rise from current 88ppl to £1.29 in two years [£1.07 in first year]) Measure would raise £8.5bn and save 19million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
• Change Vehicle Excise Duty. Band A would be £0. Rising by £300 per band to £1,800 as proposed by Sustainable Development Commission. Would raise £8bn. VAT on this increase on fuel duty would be 1.3bn.
• Double the climate change levy. (currently 43p per kWh for electricity, and less than 10% of domestic cost) Would double the tax intake to £0.7bn. and save 18million tonnes of emissions.)
• Increase Air Passenger Duty from £10 for EU flights and £40 elsewhere to £100. This would raise £8bn and cut 5.1m tonnes of emissions.
• Increase subsidies to Local Authorities to provide bus services and give them regulatory power to at lease double number of trips made by bus. Would cost £3bn.
• Emergency home insulation programme would cost £3.8Bn and insulate 2.5 million homes a year (£1,500 each) would save 5million tonnes CO2 a year.
• Incentives for renewable energy: £500million a year and save 5.5million tonnes CO2 year. [Would replace renewable obligation, expand capital grant scheme for renewables, and provide low-cost loan scheme to individuals and businesses.]
• Reduce VAT rate to 5% for DiY energy saving building materials.

ENDS

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