Conservatives
Tax
• Increase in personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020
• 40% tax rate threshold to be raised to £50,000
• No rises in VAT or national insurance
• Inheritance tax threshold up to £1m
Housing
• Extension of right-to-buy to 1.3 million housing association tenants, improve help-to-buy scheme, build 200,000 starter homes
Pensions
• State pension to rise by minimum of 2.5%
• Cuts in tax relief on pension contributions for people earning above £150,000
Pay and bills
• 30 hours of free childcare for parents of three- and four-year-olds
• Commuter rail fares to rise by inflation only until 2020
Analysis The “party of working people”, says David Cameron, will ensure no one earning the minimum wage will have to pay income tax. The current minimum wage rises to £6.70 an hour from October 2015, which equates to £12,194 on a 35-hour week. But the manifesto pledge is only to keep workers free from income tax if they work 30 hours or less on the minimum wage. Most will still have to pay national insurance. The manifesto commits to no increases in VAT: in 2010 Cameron also pledged not to raise VAT – but soon after arriving in office raised the rate to 20%. Tenants in England who have been in their housing association property for three years or more will be able to apply to buy it, at a discount set at a maximum of £102,700 in London and £77,000 elsewhere.
Greens
Tax
• Top rate of tax raised to 60%, plus a wealth tax of 2% a year on the top 1% of households
• Remove upper limit on national insurance so it rises from 2% to 12% of all income above £42,380
• Corporation tax raised from 20% to 30%
• “Robin Hood” tax of 0.1% on every stockmarket trade
• Increase taxes on alcohol, tobacco, petrol and plastic bags, remove tax incentives for buy-to-let
Housing
• Provide 500,000 social housing homes
• Five-year tenancies and rent rises limited to CPI
• Regulate private sector rent
Pension
• New citizen’s pension, regardless of contributions, set at £180 a week for a single pensioner and £310 a week for a couple
Pay and bills
• Raise minimum wage to £10 by 2020, end zero-hours contracts
• Limit top pay to 10x lowest paid worker in an organisation
• Double child benefit
• End tuition fees, cancel student debts
• Free prescriptions, abolition of TV licence, £5,000-worth of free home insulation
Analysis The Greens want to increase public spending, paid for by large tax rises for the well off. It will raise taxes from £685bn currently to £898bn per year by 2020. But the new citizen’s pension will cost around £25bn a year, and doubling child benefit costs £16bn. Insulating houses will cost a further £10bn.
Labour
Tax
• No rise in VAT or national insurance, basic (20%) and higher (40%) tax rates frozen
• New 10% starting rate of tax, 50% tax rate on incomes above £150,000, but marriage tax allowance scrapped
• Mansion tax on properties over £2m, a bank bonus tax, end of non-dom status and abolition of the bedroom tax
Housing
• Cap on private rents, restrictions on letting agent fees
• 200,000 new homes a year by 2020
Pensions
• State pension to increase by a minimum of 2% a year
• Pension tax relief restricted, winter fuel payments axed for top 5%
Pay and bills
• £8 an hour minimum wage by October 2019
• Energy bills frozen until 2017, rail fares frozen in 2016
• Free childcare increased from 15 to 25 hours
• Cut tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000
Analysis The cost of living, rather than tax, takes centre stage in Labour’s manifesto. In areas the government directly controls – income and spending taxes – the manifesto is less radical. Core tax rates and tax credits will remain fixed, apart from the return of the 50% top rate band and the revival of a 10% rate. Utility companies face not just a freeze in bills, but a plan to break up the “big six” energy providers. A ceiling on “excessive rent rises”, legislation to make three-year tenancies the norm, and a ban on letting agency fees form Labour’s appeal to the 11 million people now renting privately.
Liberal Democrats
Tax
• Raise the personal allowance to at least £12,500; align income tax with national insurance
• No increase in the headline rates of income tax, NI, VAT or corporation tax
• Mansion tax on properties over £2m, new corporation tax on banks
Housing
• 300,000 homes a year, 10 new garden cities
• New rent-to-own homes where monthly payments steadily buy a stake in the property
• Limit annual rent increases on new tenancies
Pensions
• State pension to rise by minimum of 2.5%. Move towards a single rate of tax relief for pensions
Pay and bills
• Increase free childcare to 20 hours a week for two- to four-year-olds
• Cut number of betting shops
• Minimum unit pricing for alcohol
Analysis After the infamous U-turn on tuition fees, the Liberal Democrats accept that their manifesto is a working draft ahead of a possible coalition. While avoiding the language of “red lines”, it says Nick Clegg states that there are five top priorities that “we will fight tooth and nail for”. These include the £12,500 personal tax allowance, a balanced budget by 2017-18 done more “fairly” than the Conservatives, £8bn extra for the NHS including equal status for mental health, higher education spending and new green laws. Clegg also adds that he would block the £12bn in welfare cuts proposed by the Tories.
Ukip
Tax
• Raise the personal tax allowance to at least £13,000
• A 30% intermediate rate on earnings between £43,500 and £55,000, with tax at 40% above that
• All service personnel on duty overseas exempt from income tax
• Abolish inheritance tax, scrap the bedroom tax and a lower cap on benefits
Housing
• 1m homes on brownfield sites by 2020. Right-to-buy and help-to-buy restricted to British nationals
Pensions
• Flexibility to take slightly lower state pension at 65 even as state pension age increases
• Free bus pass, TV licence, eye tests and prescriptions plus winter fuel allowance, for all pensioners, without means testing
Pay and bills
• End hospital parking charges and road tolls, abolish “green levies”
• Amend smoking ban to “save the pub”; reverse plain packaging rules for cigarettes
• Decriminalise non-payment of the BBC licence fee
Analysis After the deeply muddled 2010 manifesto, Ukip proclaims this one as the most fully costed and audited of all the parties. Nigel Farage promises no tax for those on the minimum wage. Motorists are particularly favoured: Ukip will end road tolls as drivers are “already taxed highly enough”. Scrapping green taxes will shave billions off consumer energy bills, it claims, and it promises to withdraw subsidies for wind and solar power: Britain should invest in coal and “get fracking”, it says.
Plaid Cymru
Seeks greater taxation powers for the Welsh assembly over areas such as corporation tax, air passenger duty and some aspects of income tax. Supports the reintroduction of the 50p income tax rate for those earning more than £150,000. Wants to increase the level at which national insurance contributions are paid to the same level as income tax, increase the minimum wage to the level of the living wage, and end zero-hours contracts.
SNP
Fiscal autonomy for Scotland, with the country taking full control of income tax and national insurance. While Scotland’s funding is still determined by Westminster, then the SNP wants the “Barnett formula” to stay in place. It supports a restoration of the 50% top tax rate and raising the personal tax allowance. Also wants control of child and working tax credits. It will press for additional affordable housing, with construction of homes for rent.
