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Finance Bill

I recognise that abolishing the council tax would bring about not only a redistribution, but the largest tax cut for a generation—and almost everybody would benefit from it. It is important that we do not play politics with the 10p rate; I want to finish with a constituency case. A lady came to see me on Friday with her husband. She was very upset, having been forced to take early retirement due to ill health. She had not chosen to do so, but was forced to do so. She could simply no longer work. She received her slightly smaller occupational pension, but was not yet at retirement age, as a consequence of her ill health. She told me that her tax has now gone up, but because she had not quite reached retirement age and her husband had budgeted for working until retirement, they still faced many large monthly expenditures, particularly the mortgage that they had had for some time. What do I say to that constituent? How do I explain to her that the Government have put up her tax in order to benefit people like myself. That seems wholly unfair and wholly unnecessary.