Leader: Time for Shropshire Council to get tough and collect tax
Good news. Shropshire Council, which has had to squeeze, scrimp and save, has over £11 million up its sleeve.
Good news. Shropshire Council, which has had to squeeze, scrimp and save, has over £11 million up its sleeve.
Bad news. The money is in the form of uncollected council tax and business rates.
Imagine what that cash could be used for. Investing in education. Fixing roads. Improving the infrastructure of Shropshire.
Alas, the operative word in this case is – uncollected. People are getting away with not paying huge amounts that they owe to Shropshire.
The council’s gloss on the matter is that collection rates have improved, and combined arrears have dropped by more than £2 million in a year.
Nevertheless, there is a huge pool of cash which is simply beyond the council’s reach.
It is the sort of thing to make the blood boil of those who assiduously make sure they do not fall into debt.
These people are the council’s easy money and if they do drag their feet, the council is quickly on their backs and they obligingly pay up.
These people feel they are being taken for mugs if they pay up reliably and on time while others take advantage of the system and, in some cases, will get away without paying anything at all.
That is what happened with the poll tax when colossal sums were simply written off.
There will be a multitude of reasons why people are not paying their dues.
Some may simply not have the money, in which case spending money chasing money that will not be forthcoming anyway is an expensive financial wild goose chase.
There are however a range of devices open to the council to claw money back into the public purse in most cases.
Times are tough.
The mantra that we are all in it together will ring hollow if some are paying their bills and some are not.
Comments for: "Leader: Time for Shropshire Council to get tough and collect tax"
bob dobbs
imagine how many pointless iPads you could buy to give to your staff with 11 million quid....
Mark
Imagine how many pointless responses this thread will throw up. First one to you Bob.
Now then, how long before someone mentions cardboard collections?
Port Hill Boy
Remember it's not the fault of the council that the money hasn't been paid. It's the tax dodging businesses and individuals who haven't paid.
Such law abiding Salopians.
liverbird
why bother payin then if they cant enforce i say,they are useless, typical like the bankers and the top rate payers they just dodge paying their dues and the rest of us get hammered, for some of us council tax is 10%of our income on top of already high rates of tax and VAT which the poor pay a greater share of, typical of a tory run system it benefits the few not the many
#allinthistogether
Roger
Are you sure that all this Council Tax and Business Rates is actually owing.
When someone is unlucky enough to loose their job they are thrown into the hands of the benefits system. The immediate effect is that they can not afford their council tax and need to apply for a rebate. The council tell them very firmly that they must carry on paying at full rate pending the out come of their application. If they do not pay at full rate their application for a rebate can not be considered. The council then take eight weeks to process the 26 page application. People don't pay their tax because they can afford to. The Benefits Agency are similarly considering their twenty page form nit picking it for inconsistencies and not paying benefit for weeks. With out a running claim council tax rebates can not be considered because the income can not be confirmed.
So arrears build up and are counted as income despite the fact the council know they will never get it.
Similarly for businesses, are they still counting outstanding rates on empty properties where the business is long gone and some bankrupt.
This is not a current short fall in collections it is the accumulated debt from years back, most of which is uncollectible.
So the council should process their rebates faster, within days not weeks, and write off the uncollectible. Then we might see the real value. Maybe it is the pressure applied by these sorts of articles that prevent them being realistic about what the debt really is.
Mark
Roger: some interesting and well thought out points there. However, I must take issue with some.
If you've been told that a claim for council tax benefit cannot be considered if the applicant has not maintained their payments, then that is quite simply incorrect. As long as a claim is made as soon as the applicant loses his or her job, or finds their circumstances have changed for the worse meaning they are unable to keep paying, then an application should be made immediately. Assuming that entitlement is confirmed, then there should be no reason why benefit cannot be awarded from the week following the date of claim.
It is generally the applicant's responsibility to apply at the correct time, although sometimes this may be done on their behalf by DWP (Benefits Agency hasn't existed for nearly ten years now). Some people seem to be of the opinion that in losing their job, a claim for benefit will magically appear without them having to do anything.
I can't speak for SCC as I don't work for them - nor do I work in Benefits. I do however work in a closely related field for another council in a neighbouring county, and this bring me into regular contact with benefits staff and applicants. You suggest that it takes eight weeks to process a form, really, is that true? It usually takes only a few days where I'm employed. Any longer and that is often down to the applicant failing in their responsibility to supply the information which is necessary to sort out a benefit claim.
The forms may appear "nit picky", but that unfortunately is a sign of the times. The information is required to confirm eligibility and some applicants are a little economical with the truth. Thankfully, the majority are genuine and understand the information requirements. With benefit error and fraud estimated to run to billions of pounds each year, then surely you must appreciate the need to make such enquiries.