COUNCIL’S TAX BILLS TO BE FROZEN NEXT YEAR

First Published By: The Sun

HARD-UP families will save an average of £72 because hundreds of local authorities will freeze Council Tax next year.

The average bill for a Band D home will be £1,444 an increase of just 0.3 per cent. But ministers stressed this was well below inflation, which is currently 3.4 per cent. 

Figures show nine out of ten councils will freeze Council Tax bills next year and a total of 26 authorities will actually CUT them. But dozens of authorities including some Tory-controlled town halls have pushed through hikes. 

And only HALF of unelected police authorities have frozen their bills. Local government secretary Eric Pickles declared: “This Government has frozen Council Tax, scrapped Labour’s Council Tax revaluation and given residents new rights to veto excessive Council Tax rises in the future.” Councils which freeze their budgets get a grant from the Government worth around 2.5 per cent of their total budget. 

FAMILIES will be £511 a year worse off under changes to tax and benefits that come in tomorrow, Labour claimed yesterday. Shadow chancellor Ed Balls described George Osborne’s reforms as a “bombshell”. But Treasury chiefs defended the measures insisting millions of families will be up to £330 a year BETTER OFF because of them.

The war of words erupted over figures from the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies, which revealed that hundreds of thousands of families will be hit. Labour said they show the average family will lose £511. About 850,000 will suffer from a cut in the income threshold for child tax credit from £40,000 to £26,000.

Another 212,000 could lose up to £3,870 under changes to working tax credits. Couples will have to work 24 hours a week not 16 to qualify. Mr Balls said: “Families on middle and low incomes are facing a tax credit bombshell. These independent figures show that while the Government may be giving with one hand they are taking much more with the other.” 

But Treasury minister Chloe Smith dismissed Labour’s claims. She said: “From the start of the tax year on Friday 24million households will be £6.50 a week better off. “We’re taking millions out of tax altogether by raising the personal allowance, putting up to £126 back in pockets.”

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX.

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