Following the raising of the income tax threshold from April to £7,475, as a result of Liberal Democrat pressure in the coalition government, the Liberal Democrat Policy Unit have calculated that 2,430 Luton residents will benefit from being taken out of income tax altogether and 69,300 Luton taxpayers will pay £200 less a year in income tax.

“There’s no better way to help people out of the poverty trap than by making sure they are better off in work than scraping by on unemployment related benefits,” says Liberal Democrat leader on Luton Council, David Franks.

“One of the essential ingredients in all this is to allow those in relatively low paid jobs to keep more of the money they earn and pay less of it over to the government in income tax.”

“That’s why in the manifesto for the last general election Liberal Democrats pledged to keep raising the income tax threshold until it reached £10,000 removing 3 million people from income tax altogether.”

“This is a really important first step. Indexation and inflation make future figures difficult to accurately predict but it is perfectly reasonable to say that by 2015 it is likely a further 6,000 Luton people who currently do pay income tax will not be doing so.”

Liberal Democrats in government have been able to ensure that from April 2011 the income tax threshold will be raised by £1,000 to £7,475, lifting 800,000 low earning people out of income tax completely. This will increase each year of the coalition government until it reaches £10,000, which will lift an additional 3 million people out of income tax altogether.