Council Tax - A real case, the real facts

1.45.01am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 4th Apr 2006

We reproduce below an open letter to John Prescott (whose department is responsible for the Council Tax) from a non-party political resident highlighting the problems of Council Tax in Crawley. The resident has lived in Crawley for many years and the letter was sent to the Crawley Observer at the end of March 2006. It is reproduced here with permission of the author.

Dear Mr Prescott,

Subject: My Council Tax Bill.

In 1973 (in the days of 'the Rates') I elected to pay this household bill to help out my husband because he was a bit strapped for cash at the time since he was very heavily taxed.

I still pay today and I enclose a copy of our latest bill for your attention. Since the election of 'New Labour' our Council tax bill has gone up by 98% - it has essentially doubled. Our household income has gone up slightly less than the official rate of inflation. How do you expect me to pay?

I have obtained figures from our local council as to how this bill has gone up so much. It has gone up because your department - not the local councils - have been manipulating the 'government grant' and taking away money from this town and county to send elsewhere.

Please would you check my calculations and get back to me. You can obtain the information from our local town hall under the Freedom of Information Act. However, if you have any difficulty I can get the figures for you.

In the last year before Gordon Brown came to office Central Government took a net 60% of our local business rates. Today, they take 80% which means that people like me are 'asked' (ie. told) to stump up extra money - an extra 98%! If you had left us alone and not taken this money from our community then my calculations show that our council tax would have gone up by 8% not 98%.

Please would you repeat the calculations for yourself and get back to me with the result. Also, explain to me how I am expected to pay without dibbing into my savings which I must have to buy myself an annuity upon retirement, pay for trips the dentist (the NHS is defunct on that in Crawley) and pay for house repairs.

I require an explanation from you. It will influence which way I vote.

Sincerely,

K. Ashton (Mrs)