Council Tax

[Chris S]

It is with deepest concern the Council have raised tax by the highest amount permitted without a referendum to 4.99%  

It is also unclear why this county has one of the highest rates in the UK.  I've heard the usual excuses that because Herefordshire has a number of isolated communities, this is the reason for the difference.  This is complete nonsense as Council tax is banded in the place in which you live and is not used as a general taxation for communities in which others live. 

Council tax by design does not follow general taxation principles in which equity and the actual amount a person has with income are completely ignored.  

The 1991 banding process is now so out of date and cannot be applied accurately.  If you have not bought or sold your property in 1991 or close to that date, the valuations as the years move out become very inaccurate.

Equally concerning are the facts that services are getting less and less and more expensive as with the Balfour Beatty contract who the tax-payer must pay a 3% protected profit even before any work commences.  

There has been a 15% increase in tax in 3 years.  This cannot go on especially as the Council have not done their legal duty in relation to the EQA 2010 under s149.  

Services are not done to standards required as in street cleaning (DEFRA guidance issued under EPA 1990) Highways Maintenance Plan and it is unclear how the council expects individuals to pay more and more when salaries and employment are down and that the social fabric of the country has been torn apart.  

It must be made perfectly clear that individual budgets and that of government are not at all the same. They are hugely different in the fact the Bank Of England underwrites government policy.

If others ae concerned about their abnormally high rates, act on this and stop complaining. 

 

 

 

 

[megilleland]

The world's gone crazy, everything is completely at cock. No common sense just get the Money, take Power and get Control.