Time for the Axe for the Council Tax

Written by Duncan Hames and published in Letter to the editors of local newspapers on Fri 20th Feb 2004

The hottest issue in my postbag at the moment is certainly the dreaded council tax .

Cllr Duncan Hames collects another signature for his 1,200+ petition to Axe the Council Tax.

I am most grateful for the hundreds of people who have sent me signed copies of my petition to scrap the council tax and in favour of a system based on ability to pay.

The Liberal Democrats would replace the council tax with a local income tax, which in west Wiltshire would be 3.75 per cent beyond the first £5,000 of annual earnings.

This year, local council tax bills look set to rise by about £50. Conservative councillors, like Lib Dems last year, have had a hard job coping with the Government withholding previously promised additional grant funding.

However, a Conservative minister holding the central government purse strings would only make matters worse. This week their would-be Chancellor announced that he intends to cut central funding for local government by £2bn. That equates to about another £100 to add to local Band D council tax bills.

One thing is clear: as the National Audit Office say, the council tax is fundamentally flawed ­ I say it's time we axed the council tax.