People who use the bus to commute to work across Willenhall could be hit by the equivalent of a 1p income tax rise due to the government’s decision to raise the bus fare cap from £2 to £3 which Walsall’s Lib Dems have labelled the ‘bus tax’.

Analysis by the Party shows that the average commuter in Willenhall who takes the bus every working day of the week could face an extra £448 bill because of the change made by the government.

That is the equivalent of paying £5,420 in income tax a year, 9% higher than the £4,972 a median earner on £37,430 a year would pay.

Local Liberal Democrats are calling for the rise to be reversed and the £2 bus cap to remain in place to protect bus commuters in Walsall  from suffering more financial pain after years of “economic vandalism” under the Conservatives.

Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Willenhall Ian Shires said:

“The government’s bus tax looks set to clobber commuters and bus users here in Willenhall. It is the last thing people in our area need after the years of Conservative economic vandalism we have been forced to suffer.

“It is a decision that will make it more expensive for people just to get on with their everyday lives and will just add to the misery for motorists on our already congested roads.

“The new government should urgently rethink these proposals and scrap their bus tax that will only make the lives of people here in more difficult.”

Notes to Editors:

5 (days a week someone works) x 52 (weeks in a year) = 260

28 (days holiday a salaried person working 5 days a week gets a year) + 8 (number of bank holidays in 2024) = 36

260 – 36 = 224 (number of days someone works a year)

224 x £2 (increased cost of bus cap rise to £3 per day someone works for journey to work and back) = £448

The median earner earns £37,430 per year which incurs £4,972 of income tax. Source. https://bit.ly/48BCDog

£4,972 + £448 = £5,420

‘Bus tax’ is equivalent to this person seeing a 9.01046% increase in their income tax.

This is equivalent to a 1.2p rise in income tax for ‘a typical person who uses a bus to work’ due to the ‘bus tax’. Source. https://bit.ly/3Au3ar7