No Council Tax for troops at war
First Published by: Express
BRITAIN’S Armed Forces and their families emerged as Budget winners.
Thousands of soldiers will no longer have to pay Council
Tax while deployed overseas. Their rate of tax relief is
doubled to 100 per cent.
The families’ welfare grant has also been doubled and the Chancellor
released what he described as an extra £100million to improve Forces
accommodation.
Mr Osborne said he was able to fund the boosts thanks to the
cost of operations in Afghanistan being £2.4billion lower than expected over
the remainder of the parliament. David
Cameron has pledged that British Forces will end combat roles in Afghanistan by
the end of 2014, with the vast majority of troops expected to
come home before then.
Critics argue that this means the numbers eligible for Council
Tax relief while serving abroad is therefore likely to come
down dramatically from the current level of 9,500 personnel serving six-month
tours. They also pointed out that Mr
Osborne last year froze £140million earmarked for improving Forces
accommodation due to the huge Government deficit.
The squalid
state of many military quarters has been a scandal for years. A spokeswoman for the Army Families Federation said:
“On the surface all of this is very good news. “The Council Tax announcement is very welcome though the devil will be in the detail.
“The money for
the accommodation is a reinstatement of spending frozen – and it is not
the full original £140million.” Major
Charles Heyman, editor of guidebook Armed Forces of the UK, said: “By and large
it is good news. But it will not be the end of the morale problem due to the
defence cuts.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
I support Council Tax Rebates in assisting home owners and tenants in getting a rebate on their over-paid Council Tax.