AS local authorities are in the process of setting the new rates of council tax. I think people are entitled to a high degree of information and explanation from elected council officials as to the reasons for the levels of tax to be set.
In recent years we have seen unacceptably high increases – double-digit percentage rises in some cases – with corresponding increases in the level of council tax debt among those on low and fixed incomes. Various explanations have been made for the high level of these increases but nothing seems to stop them recurring year on year.
Council tax is a regressive tax, in that it disproportionately affects those on low and fixed incomes, eg pensioners. Any increase takes a much greater slice of their income than it does those of the well-off. This is not the case with income tax. It is therefore all the more essential that increases in council tax are kept to a reasonable level, and that the Government does not attempt to 'load' tax increases at the local level to prevent a national tax increase.
There have been reports in other parts of the country – the south-east especially – of outrageously high council tax increases projected for the tax year 2003-2004: in some cases in the order of 15-20 per cent. This makes it all the more vital that a public debate on the appropriate levels is held openly in this county. Those councillors who support a large increase in council tax for the coming year – and by large I mean anything above 5 per cent – should openly state their reasons for such support. If it is the case, as some have argued, that the current level of services can only be maintained with large council tax increases then there is something seriously wrong with the whole system and it needs a complete overhaul. If what is wrong is the level of government grant then that should be openly argued by councillors, and our elected MP, Diana Organ, should answer the charge.
To have a regular, above-inflation increase in council tax risks bringing this tax into disrepute; it will be in danger of being viewed in the same light as the late unlamented 'poll tax' was – a stealth tax unfairly skewed to hit the poorer in society. The problems may only be exaggerated by the revaluation in property ratings which is due in the next couple of years. Hardest hit may well be those elderly people living on small pensions and savings, but in a property whose value has risen sharply in the last few years.
Everyone wants to have good local services which are paid for, in part at least, by local taxes. But if the main local tax is working so badly, something needs to be done. Let us at any rate hear from elected councillors why they think regular annual increases of 10 per cent – or more – are sustainable and acceptable to the public. – Dylan Watkins, Springfield Road, Lydney.