Rise in Council Tax bills will lead to cut in Public Services

11.00.31pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 24th Jan 2008

Council tax bills in England are set to rise by about 4% on average this year, according to a Local Government Association study of 100 draft council budgets. This was published on the day of the local government finance settlement. The average council tax per dwelling in England and Wales has now increased by 96% since 1997/8, from £554 to over £1000 in 2007/08. Council tax increases this year are likely to push the increase to over 100%. A report published today by the New Local Government Network has proposed replacing council tax with a local property levy.

The Government's decision to limit public sector pay rises to 2% sits starkly alongside the fact that Council tax is set to rise by twice that amount. The Government's failure to properly fund local authorities will mean large increases in council tax bills and cuts to services relied upon by vulnerable people. Simply tweaking council tax and then renaming it, as NLGN suggest, is not the answer. Linking local taxation exclusively to house values will continue to hit pensioners and others on low incomes hard. Council tax should be axed altogether and replaced with a fair system, based on ability to pay.