THE Lib-Dem manifesto stated they would scrap council tax in favour of a local income tax.

At first this sounded wonderful but on further consideration it became obvious that this was just another form of the old and hated poll tax.

This local income tax would not only be on the earnings of the main family, who actually owned the house, such as the husband and wife or the partners, but all the salaried members of the household who would also be subject to this higher rate of income tax.

This would vastly raise the family's total contribution over the present council tax!

It's a vicious circle and the poll tax is not the answer middle England is looking for.

JAMES H ALEXANDER,

Symonds Yat West,

Herefordshire.