Axe the Council Tax

Written by Serge Lourie and published in Online Exclusive on Wed 1st Oct 2003

After this year's record 15.6% hike in Council Tax, the highest increase in local tax since the Tories were last in power in 1983, local residents have been shocked by claims that the Council Tax could rise to over £3000.

In response to this, Liberal Democrats put forward a resolution to Council (30.09.03) urging that the Council Tax be replaced by a fair tax related to ability to pay. This was surprisingly rejected by the conservatives.

So what have the Tories got to say about Council Tax.

David Davis told the Today programme that they "wouldn't start from here" which is surprising as they invented the Council Tax.

A number of Richmond upon Thames Tory Councillors, including their Leader, thought that we should go back to the discredited poll tax.

Council Tax is unfair and should be replaced by a system that reflects a person's ability to pay. Many people in this borough are asset rich and income poor. It is wrong to assume that people living in large houses that are worth many times what they paid for them are able to afford the extortionate level of Council Tax of £2,536.46 in band H. The tax is unfair because poorer people and many pensioners pay a larger proportion of their income on Council Tax. The proposed Government revaluation which will increase the number of tax bands will make this sorry situation even worse.

We want to see Council Tax replaced by a tax related to ability to pay, a local income tax, that works well in the United States, many European countries and Australia. Nationally this will average around 3%, and in Richmond upon Thames it should be lower because incomes tend to be well above the national average.

Successive Tory and Labour Governments have forced up the Council Tax by not giving local councils sufficient grant.. In Richmond upon Thames all the signs point to excessive increases because of Government policy; high property values and an incompetent Council.