If Scotland abolishes Council Tax, it should receive the £400m - or a comparable sum - of Council Tax Benefit. That is not - thanks to the bizarre constitutional setup we have - to say that it will. Council Tax Benefit is a UK-wide scheme, because Council Tax is a UK-wide tax. There is no simpler argument than to say that if Scotland no longer "needs" Council Tax benefit, it should no longer...

Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, has unveiled plans to abolish council tax next year and replace it with a 3p local income tax. The council tax is one of the most unfair and unpopular taxes in history.  The arbitrary method of calculating how much someone is required to pay is matched only by the window tax

The Guardian publishes today what appears to be a well-briefed article suggesting the Lib Dems are thinking of deferring plans to scrap Council Tax in favour of a local income tax: Liberal Democrats are planning to soften their support for a local income tax to replace the council tax, a key policy for at least three

Times are tough economically. Local residents are feeling the pinch of the recession and unemployment has risen sharply, yet we still have one of the highest council tax levels in London. Since council tax was introduced, the Liberal Democrat-run administration has increased council tax by over 205%; four times the rate of inflation. Quality services and real value for money can, and should, go ha...

Council tax is rediculosuly unfair. It is an anomaly in a progressive taxation system, because it fixes the amount that can be paid at the top. The poorest pay more as a percentage of income in council tax, than rich people do.Band H is worth about 8 times more than the lowest bands (I think), and yet the rich can only pay 3x more.I believe we should have a property tax on the richest properties: ...

Sheffield Hillsborough MP, Angela Smith has welcomed the announcement that Council Tax Benefit will be renamed as Council Tax Rebate as part of the campaign to encourage pensioners to claim the help they are entitled to. The move follows campaigns, including by the Royal British Legion, who raised concerns that pensioners are reluctant to claim a 'benefit'. By renaming Council Tax Benefi...

Last night, Sutton Council’s Liberal Democrat establishment rejected our fully-costed plans to cut the council tax by nearly 2% this year, and to freeze the tax for three years in a row thereafter. In a stunning act of arrogance one longstanding Liberal Democrat councillor said it was “a privilege to pay council tax” in an embarrassing outburst. Above, you can read the budget res...

Following a long discussion on Longrider's 'blog, I have decided to revamp this policy. The original policy was, scrap all wealth and property related taxes (Council Tax less Council Tax Benefit, Business Rates, Stamp Duty, Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax, the TV licence fee*, Insurance Premium Tax and VAT on domestic fuel; less subsidies for land and property ownership like Housing B...

When he was first elected the Mayor of Hartlepool stood on two pledges. No more Council Tax rises and free bananas for every school child in the town. Of course the Council Tax promise was quickly forgotten and his last column in the Hartlepool (aka Labour Party News) Mail didn’t seem to very impressed with recent Tory pledges on controlling Council Tax. I suppose that shouldn’t be a s...

Three thousand people have written to Westminster City Council to object to the Council's £150 a year/£1.50 a day motorbike parking tax. And not one single person has written to the Council to support the new parking tax. The new motorbike parking tax is equivalent to a 22 percent Council Tax increase and has been universally slammed by bikers living in Westminster and by the many...