Council tax debt figures 'prove the case for change' says Randerson

10.44.08am GMT Thu 16th Nov 2006

The amount of uncollected Council Tax in Cardiff has helped to make the case for a new system of local government taxation that is easier to understand and collect and relates to the ability of people to pay according to the Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for

Cardiff Central, Jenny Randerson

Ms. Randerson was responding to the massive ?4.2 million in Council Tax that was uncollected in the Cardiff area in 2004-05. She argued that the tax is expensive to collect, easy to avoid and that the complex benefit system associated with it means that many people end up with impossible bills.

"What is needed is a local income tax based upon people's income rather than upon the value of their home," said Jenny Randerson "Council Tax penalises those on low and fixed incomes for rises in the value of their homes that they can do nothing about. It is little wonder that Councils find it difficult to collect all of the money owed to them."

"The Inland Revenue already has information on how much we earn and an established system for collecting taxes, which means less bureaucracy and less chance of non-payment. Local Income Tax is easy to understand and to explain, it is cheaper to collect and does not have a vast bureaucracy associated with it so as to assess and pay out benefits. More importantly, it is fairer."

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Related Link:

GMB Press Release.