In the kick-off to their party conference, UKIP has also announced that its general election manifesto will raise the personal allowance threshold by £3,500 pounds:
At its party conference, which has begun, UKIP will also promise to raise to £13,500 the amount people can earn before paying any income tax.
In a plan to win the "blue-collar vote", Nigel Farage's party will pledge to fund the changes by leaving the EU and cutting UK foreign aid by 85%.”
(At present, the) 40p rate is payable on income from £41,866 to £150,000, with the "additional rate" of 45% paid on anything over £150,000.
“Under UKIP's plans, everyone earning between about £44,000 and £55,000 would pay income tax at 35p. Those earning more will pay 40p, with the additional rate scrapped. “
Despite other policy failings, UKIP's commitment to raising personal allowance surpasses the coalition's and should be heavily applauded.
This is the first policy of 'party conference season’ that properly addresses the root of the cost-of-living crisis and provides a simple, effective solution to relieve the tax burden on low-income earners.
For years, the Adam Smith Institute has illustrated the pointlessness in taxing workers out of a living wage, to then compensate their low income with government handouts and benefits. The Labour party’s recent pledge to raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour threatens to put more young, unskilled workers out of jobs, while still taking away a substantial potion of income from anyone who happens to benefit from the small pay raise.
A hike in minimum wage is a symbolic gesture at best, that continues to tax away - or destroy - low-earner incomes. A raise in the personal allowance threshold, however, gets more money into the pockets of those earners, creating no dangerous side effects in the jobs market.
With both the Liberal-Democrat and Conservative Party Conferences ahead of us, we can only hope both party leaders will continue to embrace an increase in personal allowance and match UKIP’s threshold; or maybe even one-up them. (National Insurance cuts, anyone?)