It always feels as if Council Tax is going up, and research from the Local Government Association out today shows that is the poorest families that will be hit the hardest if the bill goes up again. It’s alleged that more than two million families will see their bills rise, low income households may see their bills soar as councils choose to reduce their discount rather than cut out waste, and, as TaxPayers’ Alliance research recently found out, they are already hit harder than anybody else, in relative terms, by our unfair tax system.
We hear a constant stream of stories about Council waste, yet councils keep on throwing money down the drain and piling the bills on to local residents. People have seen their roads deteriorate and their bins uncollected, but bills continue to rise in too many areas. As our Town Hall Rich List clearly shows, there is plenty of money sloshing around for executive salaries but councils appear mysteriously skint when it comes to reducing bills.
Some councils claim they have to put taxes up to fund what they're currently doing, but it's important to remember something; there is no such thing as a "funded" or "unfunded" tax cut. It just means you have less money to spend. Anne Jolis has written very persuasively on this for The Spectator.
We have held campaigns all over the country calling for taxpayers’ money to be spent more carefully and for taxes to come down, and will continue to do so. Residents expect their councils to deliver essential services at good value for money, and that means kick-starting the War on Waste.