Mr Johnson says the cut would be “the biggest ever” despite claiming to have already delivered a “16%” cut in his first term.
City Hall’s share of Council tax has been frozen over the past three years thanks to additional funds from central Government and was cut by £3.10 in the current tax year.
In a speech on Wednesday, Johnson said: “By exploiting the possibilities of shared services, by bringing in the private sector, we can keep putting council tax money back in the pockets of Londoners.”
Mr Johnson also insisted the cut was “a fully funded promise” which “does not threaten investment”.
The Mayor made the remarks as he launched his ‘Cutting waste and council tax’ manifesto.
The manifesto includes a promise to increase transparency “by itemising how and on what the precept is spent by City Hall”. The council tax leaflets supplied by local councils already breaks down how the Mayor’s precept is spent based on information provided by City Hall:
Johnson has previously announced plans to give Special Constables a 50 per cent rebate on the Mayor’s share of council tax. His manifesto says this would be worth “over £600 over the lifetime of my next Mayoral term.”
Responding to Mr Johnson’s promised cut, Liberal Democrat rival Brian Paddick said: “When the Liberal Democrats proposed a 3% cut Boris Johnson didn’t support it, now there’s an election coming up he’s changed his tune. Up until now Johnson has acted with integrity but now he’s fallen into the Ken Livingstone trap of making unrealistic promises.”
Labour’s Ken Livingstone said: “The Tory Mayor knows that this election is about who will make Londoners better off and that I have the best policy to do this – a £1,000 average fares cut.
“With just two weeks to go he is desperately inventing a new policy but it only saves each household just £30.67 a year – tiny compared to the savings all farepayers will make with my cut in fares, and what they will lose with the Boris Johnson’s fares hikes?”
Candidates for Mayor include Jenny Jones (Green party), Ken Livingstone (Labour), Lawrence Webb (UKIP) Boris Johnson (Conservative) and Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrat). A full list of candidates can be found here.
Candidates standing as London Assembly constituency members can be found here. Candidates for the 11 Assembly London-wide seats can be found here.
