Saying no to a Mayor's tax

There is not a lot of new money being devolved to the new position of the mayoralty.  According to a report by the thinktank IPPR North says local government spending cuts have “undermined devolution” with up to £2,000 being lost per head.  In the North East mayoralty area this would amount to £4 billion (population approximately 2 million).  The devolution deal in the largest area of the buget, transport, has £147 million of new money over the years to 2027.  This is on a yearly basis approximately 1% of the amount of money tht we have lost.

All of the candidates running for the position of regional Mayor have ambitious plans for the North East.  Given the realities of the funding settlement that I have outlined above there are in my view 2 choices.  1 The candidates are serious about the plans they have and they will need to raise the money to meet these ideas.  2 The candidates are mearly speaking warm words whihc will never be made real.

There are 2 main ways the mayor can increase the spending power of the mayoralty. 

1 is having the power to raise taxes.  The tax that the may can raise is a flat addition to council tax, effectively a POLL TAX.  I will never do this as I believe taxes should be paid in proportion to the ability to pay them.  I believe that falt taxes are regressive.     

2 is the way that I propose.  I will build europes largest onshore wind farm, and this will provide the income to transform our region.  Find out more about this in "The Big Idea".