NEW APPROACH TO COUNCIL TAX
Simon Hughes, president of the Liberal Democrats, now admits that their plan to replace Council Tax with a local income tax was flawed.
There is nothing wrong in principle with a property tax; in general, people live in houses they can afford. Rich people seldom live in hovels, and poor people rarely live in palaces. Surely the problem is the high level of that tax, and what it is expected to pay for.
If the average household pays in the region of £1000 Council Tax, and the government Support Grant pays three quarters of local expenditure, that means that so called 'local' sevices are costing about £4000 per household, surely far too much.
The NHS is paid for nationally, so why not education? Pensions and most benefits are paid for nationally, so why not Housing Benefit? Social Sevices should be run by the Council as agents for the NHS, who should pay for them.
I suggest that if Council Tax were to pay for truly local services only, such as street cleaning, parks, gardens, etc. the level of Council Tax would be much lower, more manageable, would cause much less friction, and make Councillors much more visibly accountable
