I feel utterly outraged about the scrapping of the 10p income tax band. I am 26, work for a charity and am on under £18,000 a year and manage to support myself with most of my monthly wage now going mainly on my rent, utlitlies and petrol rather than living and now I find that labour are taking more money out of our pockets!! Why don't the labour fat cats look at trying to find the extra money they need to raise from the City slickers that started this all off in the first place instead of penalising people on lower incomes. After being a staunch labour voter I will be now having a major rethink about them getting my vote and debating whether to make the move overseas as a lot of my peers seem to be doing at the moment.

J Augusta, Suffolk, UK

Having work all my life as a nurse/midwife and less than 65years, I now find my pension shrinking fast. In the last 2 years there has been INCREASED :
: fuel energy costs
: food costs
:petrol costs
: tax increased for the lower paid and younger pensioners (under 65). New Labour is rubbish! They have lost my vote and thousands of others. Proof at the next election!!

Helen F. Curtis, Hemel Hempstead, herts

Further to my comments below, I have just discovered an e-petition on the Downing Street website calling for the reintroduction of the 10p tax band. There are as yet only 1600+ signatures. You can make your voice heard - I urge you to sign up and to encourage others to do so. Simply google Downing Street and follow the links.

maureen berry, dorset,

I would like to add my voice to the growing band of articulate voters who feel seriously let down by Labour after a lifetime of hard work in public service. A retired teacher, like many I will be worse off as a result of Gordon Brown's reverse Robin Hood tactics. Not yet 65 and not eligible for any other benefits because of prudent management of my finances over the years, I now see my income reduced as price rises hit , rises which I canot avoid - food, fuel, council tax, water rates. The loss of a couple of hundred pounds is much more severely felt by those on low incomes than is the gain of that amount by those on high incomes. This is taxation without compassion and will haunt this government and hit it in the elections. What less caring action could they take than to rob the poor to pay the rich?

maureen berry, dorset,

I receive a small annuity of £75 per month plus a single person's pension. Thanks to Gordon Brown and the abolition of the 10% tax banding £75 has been reduced to £37. I've been left £38 a month worse off. He should have taken the lot at least that way I would have been eligible for pension credit!

Sue smith, Huntingdon, England

I am a 53 year old retired teacher who was forced to leave the profession when I suffered a brain haemorrhage . I receive a pension of £11000 a year which will be taxed more heavily now that that 10p tax band is being abolished. Why should those on the lowest incomes have to pay more tax ? I will not vote Labour again.
Alison, Bedfordshire

Alison Bartoli, Leighton Buzzard, Beds

I am disgusted with this Labour government's decision to abolish the 10pence tax band.Surely Gordon Brown must have known that this would hit the low paid worker more than anybody else as well as single people and couples with no children.I've voted Labour all my life, but not any longer,they seem hell bent on taking from those who can't afford it,and giving to those who can manage wihout.

Charlie Shearer...Royton, Oldham

Charles Shearer, Oldham, UK

In response to Gordon Browns statement that those likely to lose out will be benefiting from working tax credit, the payment from this agency does not go no where near what single and childless couples need to live on with all the incessant price increases that are thrown at us plus once you get to earn an income of £11.000 you do not meet the criteria for the credit.
I wonder if Gordon Brown would like to live on this amount, i am certain he would be eating his words if he had to.
Labour has certainly lost my vote.






















































3

Hayley Woods, Oldham, England

when i left school i was told to listen and vote for who you thought was right for the country but for years i have argued with labour and consevative standing people who just did nothing but vote for them everytime never the less what they did or said but now thank god they are listening now they know they are being cheated.

ian, coventry, west midlands

The poor grow poorer and the rich grow richer. The government should be fighting for greater justice for the poor not increasing the injustice. Let's hope sufficient MPs have the strength of character to stand against this increase in tax for the poor.

Hilary, Lewisham,

I am outraged that a Labour government can hit us low paid workers in this way.

Sign the e-petition to reintroduce the 10% tax band on the downing street website at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/10penceband.

Ruth, Reading,

Labour is dead at the next election, this abuse of the lowest paid workers in our society is appalling. I shall campaign in my small way to make everyone I know fully aware of this greedy sleaze ridden labour government. Ann anyone can start up some internet site to ram this home every minute of the day?

stephen, bristol, south gloucestershire

I saw Hutton on the Marr show this morning. It is very worrying when Ministers of State cannot do simple math. I earn £8000 a year with the NHS and my tax will rise by £170/year. This is 2.1% of gross pay and 2.4% of net pay. So where does he get his 0.5% max effect from? Or is he just dull?

Shirley Whitworth, Honiton, Devon

Personally I earn just enough not to be affected by this, having said that it is the final straw and after a lifetime of believing in what I thought the Labour party stood for, i'll never vote for them again. The smiling smug faces on the Labour benches when this was announced last year was revolting.

Taxing those who can least afford it and claiming it's OK there's benefits out there to compensate is digusting. Robin Hood in reverse!

As for the those bright Labour MP's who are now concerned about losing their seats and the cushy little expenses packages in a couple of years, which to be brutally honest is what they're only concerened about. If it's took over a year since the budget was announced for you to realise the impact of this change on the low paid then i'm sorry you don't deserve to be re-elected.

I've just heard John Hutton on the Andrew Marr show, towing the party line of no u-turn, always issues with change etc. Gordon got it badly wrong but they can't admit it!

Nick, Leicester,

I am one of those low wage earners who is going to lose out. This is because I have spent the last 10 years looking after my family.

I want to know why despite working hard to provide for my family I still have to rely on government handouts (tax credits) to make ends meet. I was on family credit in the 1990s and am still on benefits!!

I have no pension or allowances or expenses unlike MPs to pay for things. I would love to be a high tax payer but the social cost, if my children went 'off the rails' if I had I put my career first, is a price to high to pay. I could always just stop work.

This government only pays lip service to the poor.

Ann, hastings, UK

Martin from Bradford describes the abolition of the 10% band a "a tory policy". That's not strictly true. A lot of people think conservatives favour the rich at the expense of the poor, and that may be how they acted a long time ago. But the key conservative attitude is "if it's not broken, don't fix it" - leave well alone, and if you need to change anything, do so cautiously. That has its drawbacks, but it's safer than rushing in wildly, convinced of the brilliance of your own ideas. Take the NHS, for instance. When it was introduced, the Tories were against it, because it was a big - and apparently risky - innovation. Now that it's been working reasonably well for 50 years, though, most Tories support it, although many of them feel it's too smug and bureaucratic. Going back to the 10% band, abolishing it is emphatically NOT a Tory policy, because there is no convincing evidence it will be an improvement. A real Tory would leave it alone, happy that it was working fairly well.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

No set of MP's are that stupid. They all knew exactly what Brown had done. This little bit of pretend indignation is to make them look better. We are still being spun into oblivion. As for people being able to claim tax credits, they know that's not true either. They have worked hard to lose working class votes and they will reap what they have sown at the next election. I can't wait.

judy, Liverpool, England

Surprising that few people seem to have realised that Brown also dramatically increased National Insurance contributions
in the same budget which for most will wipe out any benefit from reducing the next tax band to 20%.

Doubling the tax rate from 10% to 20% for the poorest in the country is an obscenity.

Henry, London,

That a 'government for the people' could let this doubling of taxation for the poorest go through without weighing up the consequences to its 'client group' is breath-taking.
It proves how out of touch these 'men of the people' are. But I suppose if you look at the MPs allowances they live in a different world. Gordon Brown on £100k+ has the cheek to charge his groceries to the public purse........!!

Dudley Holley, Thorpe Bay, UK

I'm a life long labour voter aged 35, but the removal of the 10% band (kicking in this Sunday the 6th) is the most blatant tory policy I've ever seen. IE. Make the rich richer & make the poor poorer. I'm very disillusioned and not sure where to put my cross at the next general election, so I believe the Labour MPs are right to be deeply concerned. I'm waiting with interest to see how the labour MPs' rebellion on Gordon Brown's decision goes, and I will have the greatest respect for them if it brings some sort of success. IE. A u turn or A NEW PRIME MINISTER.

Martin, Bradford, West Yorkshire

I can hear the chickens coming home to roost( not that it will bother NU Labour).So 30 out of 300+ so called `Nu Labour` MP`s are `thinking`of rebeling on this issue?What about the other 270+.Of course they are just lobby fodder.Anyway they need the extra money from the lowest paid to fund their expenses.Of course,how stupid of me not to realise.These MP`s know where their bread is buttered.Not that it matters a fig.They could get just 19% of electorate voting NU Labour at next election and still manage a thumping majority.Why should they worry about the other 81% of us.

Norman, Notts,

Let us hope these MPs stick to their guns and vote against this totally unfair and crippling tax which deliberately targets the lower paid section of society. I suspect, however, that when the crunch comes they wil meekly support their bosses. Perhaps they should be reminded what the Labour Party used to stand for, if nobody does it beforehand we can remind them at the next election.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

The Labour party have shown that they no longer are the party supporting the poorer workers with this increase in tax for over 5 million of the lowest paid . Their MPs should hang their heads in shame when they go back to their constituencies.
Those Labour MPs in the marginals should now start looking for another job, because very soon they are going to need one.

David, Hull,

amazing .... increasing tax on low wage earners, pensioners, and then party right honourables in the commons not noticing... letting it through into legislation ...beggars belief

fiona , plymouth ,

Me thinks a lot of Labour MPs have suddenly realised they will be finding out at first hand what job seekers allowance ia all about in the not too distant future.

Cromwell, Leeds, England

I realisesd as soon as the abolition of the 10% tax band was announced that my tax demand would double. This is the first year I have received the fuel allowance but I now have to give it back in tax. As always, give with one hand and take with the other. Women between the ages of 60-65 are often retired but the increase in personal allowance to compensate for the extra tax demand is for the over 65's. I have been medically retired since 1996 (then aged 50) I had hoped that the struggle might be over once I reached 60 but no such luck.
John Prescott has spent over £4000 on food. I have to cover everything I pay for with not much more than that.

barbara, north east,