A not very well advertised pledge in the LibDem Manifesto to "restrict tax credits" masks a LibDem commitment to cut Tax Credits by more than half as much again as proposed by Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, says Labour's Anneliese Dodds, pointing to the reality behind the LibDems promise to raise tax allowances.
Anneliese says: "The Tories plan to raise £400 million this year from cutting Child Tax Credits, and Treasury calculations show that means couples earning more than £31,000 a year would lose out. But the LibDems - and it's all there at the back of the LibDem manifesto* Nick Clegg was talking about the other night - want to cut Tax Credits this year by £640 million! Which means a lot more families would lose out than even under the Tories! Some families are likely to lose more in Tax Credits than they will gain by the LibDems' proposal to increase the personal allowance for income tax."
"This is really 'read the small print' time," Anneliese says. "At two points in the LibDems' manifesto it says they will 'restrict' tax credits, but nowhere does it spell out what this means for real families. And that's because they don't want you to know."
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