Council tax rise warning over fear of cuts backlash
Sunday 9th October 2011, 12:13AM BST.
Householders in Telford could face an increase in their council tax rates next year despite pledges of a freeze from the Chancellor George Osborne.
Telford & Wrekin Council’s interim chief executive Richard Partington says it could increase the tax if cuts to council services ‘are considered too unpalatable’.
His comments in a report to a council committee next week, says residents would be consulted and if they were uneasy about proposed cuts there could be ‘limited’ increases in council tax.
In the report council bosses say they need to find about £40 million in savings by 2015 due to Government cuts.
At the Conservative Party Conference Mr Osborne pledged a deal would see councils which freeze 2012-2013 council tax rates at current levels receive a one-off grant equivalent to a 2.5 per cent increase.
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An obvious attempted ruse intended to make us feel ‘less unhappy’ with what we’ll really get. A freeze in costs for much poorer services.
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Slash the numbers of public sector massively, slash deep and slash the numbers hard. Small government and less taxes is the only way… Not socialistic “everyone works for the council” .. And make a start now would you please…
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It’s about time Council tax was scapped and replaced by a local income tax on all income whether it be pay, pension or benefit. This would be fairer and not penalise those who have worked hard all their life to get a decent house only to find that when their income is reduced they struggle to pay a tax based on a non realisable asset. Also when there are a large number of people in a house they would then pay a fairer portion compared to a sole pensioner left in a family home.
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This is really not good.
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Here we go, same old story …. barely taken control and once again, it’s tax and spend by a Labour administration.
Residents to be consulted? Which ones, those who have to pay hand over the fist in council tax or those who simply sit back and expect their “entitlement” to be paid on the dot?
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Or a labour council being awkward.
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I tought the basic idea was to “find” savings through efficency. It seems the council did not take long to say “no more efficency can be found” lets start cutting jobs and increasing tax.
It does not take a genious to work out that X number of thousand pounds on Ipads covers one persons wage, or goes towards the savings, the smoke screen about the new council office and maintaince costs of the old, while building a new civic centre in Wellington, or the handsome pay out’s they make to excetuive’s, all wastes money which would have reduced the burden.
So Telford and Wrekin have a close look at what you are wasting before you put more burden’s on your local tax payer.
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This is their way of putting their heads in the sand and ignoring the issue at hand and not dealing with it, this is how this country has got into this mess in the first place!
Deal with it or we all suffer!
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