A pressure group has slammed today’s Budget announcement for the Isle of Man, branding it ‘very bad for working families.’
It comes after Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson MHK announced the first personal income tax rises in well over a decade as he unveiled his second Budget in Tynwald on Tuesday.
Sustainable finances and long-term stability were the key themes of this year’s Budget.
But it’s the increase in income tax rise - the first since 2010-11 – that grabbed the headlines.
In a statement issued just after the Minister finished his address to Tynwald, the Manx TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘This budget is a very bad budget for the working families of the Isle of Man. ‘The Isle of Man Government's decision to slug workers with a ten percent increase in income tax rates is bad for the working families of the Isle of Man.
‘It means up to £20 million of extra money will be taken from worker pay on the Isle of Man. ‘Keeping the personal allowance so low - when inflation has surged over the last few years - means that the lowest paid workers in our community will suffer from the biggest increases in these tax rates. ‘Finally, it remains extraordinary that these big attacks on working Manx families were revealed to the public shortly after 10am today, and might well be smashed through Tynwald by politicians by 10pm today.’