Britain will offer limited tax rebate

LONDON, May 13 (UPI) -- Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling is close to announcing a tax rebate for low-income taxpayers, sources said Tuesday.

Darling has been conferring with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on ways to compensate those who lost out when Britain abolished its 10 percent tax rate, known as the starting rate, The Times of London reported.

The 10 percent rate was abolished in the 2008 budget, raising the starting rate to 20 percent.

Critics of the move to abolish the lower starting rate include Secretary of Schools Ed Balls, a close ally to Brown, the Times reported.

"The reality is we have got behind the curve on the issue of family finances and we need to re-establish that pretty quickly. The 10 percent tax issue is the most important thing to sort out," Ball said recently.