Call on Council to 'Axe the Tax'

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 13th Oct 2003

Liberal Democrat Opposition Councillors on Northampton Borough Council are proposing a motion at tonight's Full Council meeting calling on the Council to support the campaign to 'Axe the Council Tax'.

Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson for Northampton North and Kingsley Ward Councillor Andrew Simpson (who is proposing the motion) said "Nationally the council tax for properties in band D has increased by 70% since 1997 which hits those people on low and fixed incomes the hardest as pensions and salary increases fail to keep up.

In Northampton we have seen Council Tax rising over 30% in the last four years with many expecting next year's rise to again be more than double the current rate of inflation".

The Government is already reviewing local government finance and has warned council's about 'unreasonable' increases in the Council Tax. Meanwhile

the Liberal Democrats recently reaffirmed their long standing policy of replacing the Council Tax with a Local Income Tax.

"A fairer tax is one based on the ability to pay it" said Councillor Brendan Glynane. " It would ensure that those on low incomes do not pay an amount in disproportion to their income, it would also restore local accountability and bring about huge savings in the costs of collection. Savings that could be put back into local services".