Council Tax Campaign

The Campaign For A Fairer Council Tax

Council Tax Commentary

Poor people are paying a higher percentage of their income in tax than the wealthy, according to research. The research compiled by the House of Commons Library from official government statistics, found that the poorest fifth of society pay 41 percent of their gross income in direct and indirect taxes, while the wealthiest pay only 30 percent.

One of the most significant factors in the figures is Council Tax, which disproportion ally affects the poor.

We would call on the government to radically overall the tax system to make it fair. When a Labour Government is elected we did not expect the poor to be hit harder than the rich.

ISIFFAIR CAMPAIGN - Proposal For Change of the Council Tax System

Summary (full proposal on request)

The “IsItfair” campaign maintains that the present system of Council Tax is unjust and is capable of being manipulated for political ends. Most importantly, the present system of Council Tax assessment takes no account of a person’s ability to pay.

The present Council Tax system does not take into account the varied costs of living across the country, and varied percentages of disposable income. Neither does it take into account differing values of similar or even identical properties.

There are already two taxes in existence that can be used to collect additional funds for Local Government. These are basic Income Tax, and VAT. The first is a primary tax on people’s income. The second is a simple tax on people’s spending.

A simple levy on basic Income Tax will bring every person who is liable for income tax into the local funding process, thus broadening the base for collection, and respecting a person’s ability to pay.
 
A simple levy on VAT will mean a contribution to local government services from very nearly every person in the nation.

Both levies can be collected at minimal expense, without requiring excessive manpower and personnel costs.

Established systems are in place to collect these existing taxes, together with processes and penalties to counter evasion and fraud. This proposal will do away with the cost of collecting Council Tax at a local level, and will have a much higher 'success rate' There will be a tremendous saving of collection costs across the country relative to Council Tax collection.

The “IsItfair” campaign believes that the people want less government, not more government. It is our position that Council Tax must be abolished immediately, and replaced with a fair and transparent system that reflects people’s ability to pay.

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