NOW COUNCILS PLAN STEALTH TAXES

Published by: Express

FAMILIES face a council tax bombshell after local authorities revealed the recession has slashed their income by £4billion.

As well as pushing up council tax bills, struggling local ­authorities are expected to try to sneakily claw back money by putting up the cost of everything from parking to swimming pools.

Councils have been hit by a ­“perfect storm” of calamities just when they are dealing with rising homelessness and while helping businesses struggling to survive.

The property market collapse has cut profits on development deals by £2.7billion in a year, while interest on bank deposits has ­fallen by £1.3billion, says the ­Local ­Government Association.

The loss is about a fifth of the ­total raised by council taxes.

Local government expert Dr Tony Travers says families could soon face a raft of “stealth taxes”, including extra fees for refuse collection. He said: “People will probably begin to see higher charges for ­leisure facilities, swimming pools, arts centres and so on. 

“They will see higher parking charges, they may see councils trying to find new services to charge for which could include elements of refuse collection, to encourage ­efficiency and recycling.” 

Parking alone brings in well over £1billion a year across England and could soon overtake council tax revenue in the search for new cash sources. Westminster Council now receives more from parking than it does from council tax. In all, sundry charges, including parking, bring in £10billion a year, about half as much as council tax.

Last night Shadow Local ­Gover­nment ­Secretary Caroline Spelman warned that a crackdown on wasteful expenditure was vital. She said a Conservative government would freeze council tax bills after Tory negotiators failed to prevent a one per cent pay rise last month, which cost taxpapers an extra £240million.

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But the party is hinting it could tear up the pay deals for workers ­including bin collectors, care ­assistants and dinner ladies if it wins the next election. Households have already been told they face a three per cent council tax rise next year to fill a gap created by new accountancy rules. Christine Melsom, from the ­campaign group IsItFair, said many people would refuse to pay large bills.

“It’s unaffordable,” she said. “I think a lot of people will go to court rather than pay big increases.”