SOUTH 'WORST HIT BY BIG COUNCIL TAX RISES'

FIRST PUBLISHED BY: THE IS MONEY

COUNCIL TAX HAS RISEN UP TO THREE TIMES FASTER IN THE SOUTH THAN IN THE NORTHERN TOWNS.

In the most tightly squeezed cities and districts - mainly Conservative controlled areas - the Council Tax burden has gone up by more than 150% in a decade. But the most favoured cities have seen the tax they pay go up by only 50% since the party came to power in 1997.

The breakdown comes from figures disclosed by ministers in parliamentary questions, which show how much money has been collected by different town halls. Lowest increases in Council Tax receipts have come in Liverpool, where the take went up just 49% between 1997 and 2007. 

Redcar in the North East, St Helens on Merseyside, and Tameside in Manchester also received low amounts of extra tax from their residents. But other places saw comparatively huge amounts of money handed over to town halls. In the City of London, receipts rose by 206%. Outside London there were increases above 150% in parts of Cambridgeshire and Devon. A string of councils saw their collection level go up by more than 140%

Labour has been accused of giving extra subsidies and grants to northern towns and cities, which allow them to keep local taxes down. Tories, who obtained the information through Westminster questions, said yesterday that Labour has been favouring its own voters. Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: 'Everyone has faced soaring levels of Council Tax, with homes across the South and East Anglia being clobbered the most.

'The police levy on Council Tax is going through the roof, but police numbers are being cut. Local services like weekly rubbish collections are slowly being cut, while bills rise year on year. People are paying more and getting less.' The: Is It Fair? Council Tax protest group, said: 'If you live in the country, prices are much higher and you get squeezed every time. Council Tax bills are just part of the pattern.'

The evidence of differentials between towns and country and the North and South is likely to become a key campaigning issue in the local elections at the beginning of May. An increase of 140% would mean Council Tax receipts went up by more than ten times the level of inflation. According to the Government the preferred measure, the consumer prices index, inflation went up by 14% between. Last year, research showed that taxpayers in the South are effectively subsidising higher public spending.

Two reports found that the South-East bankrolls the rest of the country but gets fewer policemen, worse health services and shabbier care for the elderly than anywhere else. Studies by the consultancy firms Local Government Futures and Oxford Economics showed that each person in the South East pays the Treasury nearly £2,000 more than they receive back in public spending on services such as schools, hospitals and infrastructure projects.

Under the new system of judging what Treasury grants should be paid to local authorities, councils in areas judged poor and needy have been getting much higher amounts.

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

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