Government's Disgraceful Tax Credit Shambles

12.45.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 23rd May 2007

Local Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt, has today hit out at the government's disgraceful tax credit record after the government published records showing they overpaid £1.9 million of tax credits in 2005/6 to residents of West Worcestershire and has wrongly paid out over £9 billion across the country over the past three years.

At the same time they failed to pay over 1000 families across the constituency the tax credit awards they were entitled to. This amounted to a massive underpayment of £700,000.

Richard Burt commented: "The government's record on tax credits here in West Worcestershire is a disgrace. Gordon Brown has presided over a tax credits fiasco that is of his own making.

"Not only have taxpayers in West Worcestershire lost out, but the government is now trying to claw back money from people on very low incomes - even when it was government mistakes which led to the errors.

"The government has overpaid residents of West Worcestershire £1.9 million, and underpaid others £700,000.

"The government's shambolic tax credit system leads to uncertainty for many families in West Worcestershire as they have no way of knowing what they will receive. I am campaigning for a simple system of fixed term awards of six months so that families know what they are getting and get what they are entitled to."