Stealth tax cover up

Alex Burghart MP accused of "covering up" stealth taxes on local people

Alex Burghart voted against a Liberal Democrat amendment which would have forced the Government to write to every taxpayer in Brentwood & Ongar facing higher bills as a result of "stealth taxes"

The change to the law would have allowed families to plan for the increase in taxes in this cost of living crisis

Alex Burghart has come under fire for opposing an amendment which would have seen families in Brentwood & Ongar informed about the impact of the massive stealth taxes he voted for in Parliament at the end of November.

The Liberal Democrat amendment would have required HMRC to write to every taxpayer hit by the freeze in tax thresholds, spelling out how much extra tax they will be paying and whether they've been dragged into a higher rate. As well as opposing the amendment, Alex Burghart was one of 317 Conservative MPs who backed the stealth tax on 22nd November.

Under the Conservative plans, which sees tax thresholds frozen, the basic rate of tax will be £566 steeper, while someone on the higher rate will pay a whopping £2,872 extra a year by 2028.

Nationally, the Office of Budgetary Responsibility has forecast the policy will drag around six million people into a higher tax band, as salaries rise to match inflation while thresholds stay frozen. 3.2 million will be dragged into paying basic rate tax and 2.6 million will be pulled into higher rate tax.

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman for Brentwood & Ongar, David Kendall has called the measures "underhand and unfair", warning that "Conservative MPs will never be forgiven for putting the richest corporations before hardworking local families".

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for Brentwood & Ongar cllr David Kendall said:

"Local people are juggling so many bills right now so they need to budget for the tax rises. It is not right that they are being kept in the dark.

"We have been badly let down by Conservative MPs. Local people are being made to foot the bill for the government's mess, while the big banks and richest corporations get an easy ride. On the same day Conservative MPs chose to keep people in the dark over these stealth hikes, they opposed measures to tax oil and gas companies and super-rich non-doms.

"Having saddled local people with these underhand and unfair stealth taxes, the least the Government could have done is come clean.

"People I speak to in Brentwood & Ongar aren't asking for much. They work hard and play by the rules- all they want in return is a fair deal: but instead they are clobbered with higher bills and higher taxes as public services like the NHS wither and decay."