Torbay weblog davecathy

May 23, 2005 at 12:32 o\clock

NEW APPROACH TO COUNCIL TAX

by: davecathy

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
 

Comments for this entry:

  1. insider2 wrote at Jun 21, 2005 at 19:33 o\clock:You\'ve stumbled across the smoke and mirrors that governments of both political shades have been using for years to cook the books and confuse the voters. Namely moving responsibility for national services to local authorities, getting the expense of those services off the national books but then not funding the local services. Slight variations on this policy include funding the services properly to start with then never adjusting for inflation.



    There are many benefits to the national government in this. First of all they can thump their chests and say how much they saved (maybe even cut a bit of income tax). Then, when the local authorities are forced to increase council tax they bash the councils of the opposite political shade and accuse them of \"tax and spend\".



    It\'s a politician\'s dream.
  2. davecathy wrote at Jun 26, 2005 at 21:41 o\clock:Sorry not to have replied before, but I\'ve been away (not at H.M.s pleasure)

    Of course, you are totally right, and it is something that has been happening for many years. But just to state the other side of the argument, there are many things that the central government does fund, but the local authority chooses not to spend on the given task. My own local authority for example never spends its full allocation on road repairs or education, thereby diverting government funds, a form of embezzlement of public money if you ask me.

    Regards

    Dave

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