Poorest people hit by Labour's tax rise

12.56.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 11th Apr 2008

Tariq Khan discusses his concerns with Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg

Gordon Brown's decision to abolish the 10p rate of income tax will hurt the poorest people in the country the most, according to the Liberal Democrats.The change means a huge tax increase for single working people with no young children who earn less than £18,500 a year.

They will pay an extra £232 a year to the Inland Revenue.

Lib Dem Parliamentary campaigner for Hodge Hill, Cllr Tariq Khan said "Labour have the cheek to talk about 'fairness'. There is no fairness involved in this decision. Five million of the poorest people in the UK are affected by this. That's at least nine thousand local residents."

"Poor people are being made poorer whilst the rich are simply getting richer.It's outrageous."

Those effected include nurses working in NHS hospitals and low income pensioners.