Councils tax bills to increase between 3 to 5 percent

Councils tax bills to increase between 3 to 5 percent

	Published : Tue, 21 Feb 2006 02:10 By : Richard Owen Print this Story

LONDON - A survey by the Local Government Association has found that the dreaded Council tax is all set to increase by a further 4 percent in England. The survey, which questioned 112 councils, found that seven out of ten councils were all set to raise the tax between 3.1 to 5 percent.

The taxes are all set to rise for the 10th straight year and it is estimated that any increase would add £2,000 to household bills this year, which are all set to rise thanks to corresponding increases in the fuel and electricity bills. Pensioner groups say that elderly members of the society would be hard hit and could contemplate boycotting the taxes altogether.

The IsItFair campaign is organizing protests demanding that council tax reforms be implemented. The campaign said that many more protestors were willing to go to jail like two protestors last year.

"This is an ultimatum to the Government to get things sorted out. If they think they had trouble on their hands last year, they haven't seen anything yet. People have had enough of inflation-busting bills year after year after year, with nothing being done about it," said Christine Melsom, who is organizing the campaign.

"The support we are getting is phenomenal and councils are in for a shock. It's about time they started working for the people who elected them, not for this wretched Government. They have nine months and if nothing is done, then that's it. They will not get a penny more." However, a spokesman for Tony Blair said that any rise above 5 percent would be capped. The LGA survey has found that 28 percent of the local authorities surveyed had set their bills above 3 percent.

"Councils are championing the interests of local residents and are doing everything in their power to keep council tax down," said LGA chairman Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart. "It is a credit to local authorities that despite difficulties, councils have managed to keep increases so low."

But the Tories came down heavily on these proposals and said that people are finding it very hard to pay the "stealth tax." Sarah Teather, the Lib Dem local government spokeswoman echoed these thoughts, "The whole local government finance system is broken, and the only way to fix it is to scrap council tax."

This opinion is echoed by many who have seen closures of local police stations and other services, healthcare go downhill, ever busier roads and youths on street corners to name but a few issues. Council tax payers are left wondering what exactly they get for their money.