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Navin's News: Council tax

GLA Budget

GLA BUDGET

Last week the London Assembly debated and voted on the Mayor’s budget for London. I, along with my Labour colleagues, proposed a fully costed plan to cut transport fares by 7%, this will save travellers around £1,000 over four years. We want to use TfL’s surplus to put money back in Londoner’s pockets to help them through these difficult times. However, all of the Conservative members of the Assembly voted against this proposal and Mayor Boris Johnson also blocked it.

 

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Mayor Johnson’s proposal of a 1% cut to council tax means a £3.10 per year reduction in council tax, equivalent of saving the average Londoner 26p a month - enough to buy one onion. This measly sum is meaningless compared to the £110 extra a monthly zone 1-4 travelcard will cost you this year, or the £46 extra you are forking out for a monthly bus pass since last year. The Tory Mayor's fare rises are costing Londoners a lot more, and he could make a real difference to Londoners if he supported Labour's plan to cut transport fares but all he is interested is in gesture politics.

In these difficult times when costs are rising we should be doing all we can to help people, rather than the paltry cut offered by the Mayor. It is a shame that the Tory Mayor has chosen to increase fares and burden our communities with this additional hefty tax.  

Navin Shah AM 

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14th February 2012