Jan 2008 17

Taking the fight to North Norfolk District and Norfolk County Councils6

DonotfeedthetaxmanWithin our grassroots campaigns, it’s my aim to have every activist involved at every stage of our campaigns.  From letter writing to leafleting and radio-phone-ins, every bit is as important as the next and yesterday was perhaps the best day of grassroots activism and co-ordination I’ve seen at the TPA.

Here’s how our activists in Norfolk, particularly Tony Flynn, Barbara Lockwood and Tony Callaghan made the difference to a story that will affect the lives of at least 500 taxpayers in North Norfolk:

10am – Barbara Lockwood calls the office informing me about a BBC story detailing how North Norfolk District Council are dispatching the bailiffs to at least 500 taxpayers who can’t (or won’t) pay their Council Tax.

11am – The blog goes up on the TPA website about the story

12am – Emails go out to our Norfolk Activists asking them to lobby their local radio and press about the issue and to get public debates going.

1 – 4pm – Tony Flynn and Tony Callaghan contact numerous radio stations about the issue

5.10pm – BBC Radio Norfolk host a debate on the issue where TPA members discuss how wrong it is for Council’s to send out bailiffs to collect council tax before they tighten their belts and stop wasteful spending.

So in one day, what could probably have been an issue concealed deep in the BBC website achieved widespread coverage across Norfolk.  Now it’s up to us to keep the campaign going.  I’ve written this morning to the Norwich Evening News and the Eastern Daily Press and I encourage you to do the same.

How can it be fair for the council to force their way into taxpayers’ homes and take taxpayers’ possessions when:

  • North Norfolk District Council has increased its council tax from £572.13 in 1997 to £1281.81 in 2007;
  • North Norfolk District Council spends £600,000 on its own self-congratulatory publicity, an increase of 22% since 1997;
  • Norfolk County Council spends £2.5 million on its own propaganda, an increase of 166% since 1997;
  • Last November Norfolk County Councillors awarded themselves a shocking 28% pay increase!

Please make this point to the local papers by sending letters to:

The Eastern Daily Press – [email protected]
Norwich Evening News – [email protected]

Please feel free to send your letters into any other Norfolk Newspaper.  It’s injustices like these when real people feel the weight of the council come crashing down on them that we have to stand up to.  Government, both local and national, is meant to be a public service, in the service of the taxpayer not a high-and-mighty power to bully us into filling their pockets.

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  • Roger tidy

    The council’s bailiffs can’t just break into people’s homes in connection with unpaid council tax.
    According to the current law, bailiffs are not allowed to enter unless they have previously been granted permission to enter by the householder (once they have entered they can enter your home again even if you try to stop them).
    The only exception to this with regard to council tax is if you leave a door or window open through which they can sneak in.
    This is the current position. Later this year, when a new regulatory body is set up by the Security Industries Association, council-tax bailiffs will be able to enter a person’s home on application to a judge (providing he agrees). They cannot do that at present and, at least for the next few months, your home is safe from the bailiffs if you refuse to allow them to enter and keep your doors and windows closed.

  • http://www.taxpayersalliance.com Tim Aker

    Citizens Advice research showed, however, that 40% of bailiffs in a study misled home owners about their powers, half levied unfair fees and countless stories of intimidation and threats. So, indeed, keep your doors shut to bailiffs.
    Here is the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6418289.stm

  • Graeme Pirie

    This is all wrong. We should congratulate a council for trying to recover money owed legally.
    At the same time they should be lamblasted for waste.
    They should do both.

  • http://www.taxpayersalliance.com Tim Aker

    Graeme, this is all well and good but if no one stood up to unfair taxes in the past, we’d still likely have ridiculously high rates of tax.
    A few stats worth considering:
    - Help the Aged research shows between 10 and 12% of pensioners have to go without food or heating just to pay for their council tax. Can it be right that these people are faced with the added fear of losing their posessions to the bailiffs?
    We all should pay our bit, but our bit for services and I’ve shown how the names council’s have spent so much more than was necessary in one year alone.

  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/G2287 ATFlynn

    Tim, please forgive the delay. I have spent the last two or three days going over the pros and cons of this argument, yet still the answer is the same.
    Control of the Economy and Taxation are the two functions that establish Sovereignty. In the normal course of events, the Electors, allow the submission of that power to be taken up by the Elected government of the day, to be exercised in the interest of the people.
    Since I last spoke to you, it seems that others have taken unto my opinion, that the State has taken unto itself, far too much of the earnings of the “Ordinary”, people by way of Taxation and daylight robbery.
    It is my intention to explain to everybody the route out of this Unholy Mess.
    Put On Your Gospel Armour. Each Piece Put On With Prayer.
    I make no apology for my Christian birth, or my Christian life. I do not believe my Religion is unique.But it is for me to explore in my own way. And I ask no-one to pay for my existance while I abandon my responsibilities for the lives I have brought into this world.
    Who was it, in the 1800′s, who said, we must close “Gin Lane” and abandon this policy of “Liberalism” bringing the population into the fold. Allowing Parish Constables to object to the introduction of the profligate, extravagant and debauched economy that this goverenment claims to Control.
    Why, Why, Why.
    Do We, You, Us.
    Allow this lot of week-end fools to dictate, what is to be the next year of our existance??
    There are so many times that are the arbitor
    of your, my, objection or NO objection: I do not know????

  • Barbara Lockwood

    To the Idiots of our country who probably have more money than sense for stealth Taxes
    that most of this Government shy away from paying and at the same time dispatch £bln in Aid that disappears I condemn, for their ignorant attitude and blindness to our downtrodden England.
    I for one will not adhere to more than a fifty percent Council Tax from my meagre fixed pension while MPs, Ministers,and Councillors are allowed to fix their own salaries and bonuses annually.
    I only wish the rest of this country word join me, we would then win against greedy Governments and despicable bailiffs.
    There are many who should be standing in court and I don’t mean just our criminals.
    Last for the moment is the craftly abolished
    10p Tax Rate again I will not comply until this is reinstated.
    Barbara Lockwood—F.A.C.T. TPA