£2BILLION OF COUNCIL TAX LEFT UNCOLLECTED BY TOWN HALLS WHO THEN MOAN ABOUT CUTS BY WHITEHALL

FIRST PUBLISHED BY: THE MAIL ONLINE

COUNCILS IN ENGLAND HAVE FAILED TO COLLECT BILLIONS IN COUNCIL TAX – WHILE COMPLAINING ABOUT CUTS TO THEIR BUDGETS FROM WHITEHALL.

The total arrears – much dating back several years – is spread across 31 local authorities and stands at £2.3billion. Eight out of the ten councils with the worst record on collecting Council Tax are Labour-run. Liverpool had the highest amount of arrears, with nearly£108million in Council Tax outstanding – about £500 per household in the city.

Biggest debts: Liverpool City Council is owed £108million in unpaid Council Tax. Earlier this year, the city’s Labour leader Joe Anderson said he was ‘so angry and so devastated’ that the council had to find £91million in savings. 

That amount is less than the total in uncollected Council Tax. 'Angry': Liverpool's Mayor Joe Anderson was 'devastated' the council had to make savings in other areas to make up the shortfall. Manchester’s plans to cut services were criticised last year by David Cameron when he told the Labour-run local authority it should first cut its chief executive’s £200,000 salary. Labour regained control of Birmingham from the Tories and Lib-Dems in May and Croydon, also among the ten with the worst record, is controlled by the Tories. Local government minister Bob Neill unveiled the figures in a parliamentary answer to Labour MP Helen Jones. He said: ‘Every penny of Council Tax that is not collected means a higher Council Tax for the law-abiding citizen who does pay on time. 

‘These figures show that there is a significant source of income which councils could use to support front-line service or cut Council Tax bills.’ Lambeth, which has £48million of uncollected Council Tax, last year used taxpayers’ money to fund a poster campaign complaining about central government spending cuts. The posters said: ‘The Government has cut our money so we are forced to cut services.’ The Government has ordered a freeze of Council Tax across the country and has refused to pour in more cash to profligate councils.

'Shameful': Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles accused local authorities of squandering millions by failing to collect Council Tax Local authorities have also expressed outrage over the Government’s 28 per cent cut to their funding. But Local Government and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles yesterday hit back, saying: ‘This roll call of shame is familiar reading, with Labour councils year in year out topping the table of local authorities who squander millions by failing to collect our Council Tax.

‘If these Labour authorities stopped complaining about the legacy of cuts left by their own party and actually chased up Council Tax dodgers they could use the money to protect hundreds of front-line jobs.’ The worst collection rate in England for last year was the London borough of Newham, where 8.3 per cent of Council Tax was not paid. It was followed by Manchester, Salford and the London boroughs of Southwark, and Barking and Dagenham. In total, £612million of Council Tax was not collected in 2010-11 across England.

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

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