Without wishing to over-egg the cake or become too tedious and repetitive on the proposed County Council spending plans and the significant cuts they are planning, I was pleased to see that Liberal Democrat leader Jason Zadrozny agreed with me, not only on the need for an increase in council tax but also on a very modest redistribution of the wealth at the same time.
Coun Zadrozny said that his party advocated a freeze for properties in tax bands A and B but an increase of 1% for band C, 2% for band D and so on. He said: “It’s the wrong time to freeze council tax because it creates a problem further down the line.”
Allowing people to keep more money in their pockets (the justification for the Tory council tax freeze) when this means, ultimately, that many of their public services will be cut or reduced makes no sense to anyone apart from Kay Cutts.
7 Comments
Before we discuss this, is it actually possible? I thought the ratios of the different bands were fixed in law and it was not possible to change them individually.
I’m not too sure I agree with this as Gail and I live in a Band D property. At the moment we pay £150 odd a month Council Tax, but we have a joint income of less than £33k before tax. and that’s full time wages. I’m all for raising taxes, but I think it ought to be linked to the amount of money going into the home.
I think Fred is right that CT bands are fixed in relation to each other eg Band H is twice that of Band D.
Authorities set the nominal Band D rate which automatically sets the other bands in relation to it. You’d have hoped that an elected councillor would know that, unless he’s arguing for a legislation change to make it possible.
It’s worth also bearing in mind that Council Tax in Nottinghamshire also depends on the spending plans of the district councils as well which Notts has no control over.
The problem is that, as Council Tax is only a very small proportion of a council’s income, somewhere between 10% – 20%, the rest coming from central government, any locally decided budget issues which aren’t reflected by an equivalent change in government grants will disproportionally affect Council Tax.
GM seems to be suggesting a local income tax which is whole new kettle of fish. I think that was once Lib Dem policy but I’m not sure.
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Thanks very much. Glad you liked it.
Abolition of Council Tax and replacement with Local Income Tax is still very much a plank of Lib Dem tax policy, as is raising the income tax threshold to £10,000, which would take the low paid, state pensioners and people on benefits out of taxation altogether. The “Mansion tax” – a levy on houses over £1m, where only the value over £1m is taxed – is still under discussion. Vince wants it, but it’s not been through the party policy process yet.
I like all of those. Levels of contribution to the state, locally or natonally, should be linked to ability to pay. Council tax doesn’t currently do this and, as you point out, income tax is not always fair on the low paid.