Star comment: Chasing up the council tax defaulters

Councils had a merry run around as they tried to chase up people to pay the old community charge, as Mrs Thatcher insisted it should be called.

At least bricks and mortar does not move about, and consequently householders are easier to pin down and be made to pay up.

Relatively speaking. Because it seems that the old problems which afflicted the poll tax, and eventually saw vast amounts written off – in other words, non-payers got away with it – are looming their head yet again.

Shropshire Council was owed almost £8.3 million in council tax in the financial year which ended in April this year. The figure in the Telford & Wrekin Council area was £5.3 million, although over £2 million has been recovered since.

That may sound encouraging, but we are now over halfway through another financial year and can expect to have the same fun and games all over again.

Just over the border into Powys, arrears for 2013/14 were over £2 million. Again, over half has since been recovered. But that is last season's game. Another one is under way.

This money is owed at a time when all councils are desperate to save every penny they can, and scrape in every penny they can. An enormous sum is simply not available to the communal purse at the moment.

A distinction has to be drawn between those who are not paying because they are in dire financial straits, and those who are simply unwilling or dragging their feet.

The first can be afforded a measure of sympathy. If they are struggling that badly, they need help and to be given options which enable them to meet their responsibilities without suffering crushing financial hardship.

With the won't pay brigade, the approach has to be somewhat firmer.

All this is easily said. There is a dilemma. Chasing up debts becomes increasingly costly.

But if the impression is given that debts will be chased up only to a certain point, then that gives an incentive to the evaders to be more evasive than ever on the grounds that if you get away with it for long enough, you will get away with it forever.

The eventual consequence would be the council tax system would crash, which would be the most expensive bill of all.