Another tough year ahead for pensioners facing inflation-busting Council Tax bills
28/01/2008
Pensioners face a tough year ahead, following another inflation-busting rise in Council Tax of 4%.
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Is there a light at the end of the Council Tax tunnel? asks Isitfair
The Isitfair campaign has welcomed the statements by the Conservative Party on freezing Council Tax should they come into office.
Councils and their pound of flesh
On Monday 14th July at 9.30am, Mr Philip McGrevey will be attending the Newton Abbot Magistrates' Court, trying to get recognition of the plight of pensioners struggling to pay ouncil Tax. We would ask for Mature Times readers’ support since we do not want a repetition of what happened in Somerset where a pensioner was driven to take his own life because of the pressures he was under.
Pensioners sent to jail - but councils can write off £130 million in unpaid council tax
While overstretched pensioners struggle to pay their inflated Council Taxes, and some even end up in jail, new figures reveal that town halls have simply "written off" more than £130 million of unpaid council tax.
Council Tax increases 'yet another burden for pensioners'
Help the Aged has condemned this year's rise in Council Tax fearing that, faced with a catalogue of increases for essential items, this will be yet another burden for pensioners.
Council tax jail protest - "there is a better way"
We do not feel that refusing to pay council tax is an appropriate strategy to achieve change. Local authorities are obliged to levy the tax under rules laid down by government and they cannot unilaterally change the system. By withholding payment and, if the council is unable to collect the money, the effect will be to penalise all other council taxpayers in the district who collectively have to make up the shortfall.
Mugged by Council Tax yet again
Every year we pay significantly more tax and in return we are forced to accept cutbacks in services. This cannot be allowed to continue.
Are you being overcharged for Council Tax?
According to a report in a national newspaper, Government ministers and officials have known since at least 2005 that many homes have been placed in the wrong tax bands. The miscalculations could have affected up to 400,000 homes and amount to tens of millions of pounds.
Council tax will now swallow a third of pensioners' incomes
Britain's biggest pensioner organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), has warned that today's (28 February) survey by CIPFA that council tax is to rise in 2008-09 by an average of 4% will mean even more pensioners falling into poverty.
"Double-whammy" of higher council tax bills and social services cuts
Help the Aged in Wales are warning that many pensioners will be pushed to breaking point this year by rising council tax bills and social services spending cuts.
Choose your own council tax increase
Residents in flood-stricken Gloucestershire will be able to choose how much council tax they pay next year under a scheme set to be approved on December 18th. The referendum on council tax comes as the county faces tough calls on its budget following the summer floods - with costs spiralling to around £35 million.
No change in sight for Council Tax
The Mature Times recently asked readers what they wanted from Gordon Brown - and fairer, affordable, Council Tax came up very high on that list - but despite the weight of public opinion, the government has ruled out any significant reforms for older people in the near future.
Tories say voters should be able to veto Council Tax rises. But would it work?
The rising cost of Council Tax has long been a thorn in the side of many older people - so much so that prison has been an alternative to 'paying up' for some brave pensioners. So Tory leader David Cameron's statement today (November 13th) in which he says that voters should have the right to veto above-inflation increases should strike a chord with many Mature Times' Readers - but will it really make a difference?
Bullied by Council Tax Bailiffs
I regret to report that - having made my protest against Council Tax - we have been "done over" by the bullying bailiffs of two Devon Councils.
New development in "Rubbish Wars"
Despite continuing rises in Council Tax payments, householders in certain areas of Hertfordshire are facing extra charges if they put out more than one sack of rubbish each week under a new six-month pilot scheme. The move, instigated by Broxbourne Council, is designed to encourage more recycling, but instead it is raising blood pressures amongst local residents - many of whom have protested the development.
