WIRRAL COUNCIL TAX ‘REBEL’ ROGER HAYES SENT TO PRISON

FIRST PUBLISHED BY: WIRRAL NEWS

A SELF-PROCLAIMED COUNCIL TAX REBEL WAS JAILED FOR NON-PAYMENT OF HIS BILL AFTER BEING ARRESTED BY POLICE.

Roger Hayes was last year at the centre of a near-riot at Birkenhead County Courts after appearing facing demands for Council Tax. The case was later moved to Liverpool Crown Court where Hayes, who is the chairman of the anti-establishment British Constitution Group, was subsequently declared bankrupt. However Wirral Council claimed it was stillunable to recover the taxes it said it was owed.

Hayes was due to appear at Wirral Magistrates Court last week, but failed to attend. A warrant was then issued for his arrest and police arrived at his home in Holland Road, Wallasey, on Saturday morning and took him to the court. A spokesman for Merseyside Police confirmed their officers arrested businessman Hayes and transported him to Wirral Magistrates Court.

At the same court on Monday July 2 he was committed to prison for 21 days for arrears and costs of £1,477.14 and “wilful refusal” to pay. The hearing in March last year had ended in chaotic scenes with dozens of people storming the Birkenhead courtroom. Hayes had demanded District Judge Michael Peake take an “oath of office” before urging his supports to make a citizen’s arrest “under the Magna Carta”.

Footage captured by Hayes’ supporters showed how several people then burst forward towards the bench, forcing District Judge Peake to be removed for his own safety. The court building was also closed while hundreds of people gathered on the streets outside. Six people were arrested. Hayes, of New Brighton, had refused to pay the debt because he claims the way the Council Tax is being applied is unlawful.

The 61-year-old had set up his group three years ago to challenge governing bodies.

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

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CLAIM YOUR COUNCIL TAX REBATE

FIRST PUBLISHED BY: THIS IS MONEY

PEOPLE ALL OVER BRITAIN ARE MISSING OUT ON HUNDREDS OF POUNDS A YEAR BY FAILING TO CLAIM COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT.

With the average unclaimed rebate running at around £430 a year, four out of every ten pensioners are paying much more Council Tax than necessary, says the Department for Work and Pensions. In some cases, people could reclaim 100 per cent of the their Council Tax. To encourage more people to claim, especially pensioners, the DWP has launched a widespread advertising campaign, which includes sending posters and leaflets to 20,000 organisations. 

The leaflets, entitled Cut your Council Tax – Find Out If You Should Be Paying Less, explain what the benefit is and how to claim it. Council Tax benefit is paid as a rebate on your Council Tax bill whether you rent or own your home, or live rent-free. It does not matter if you already get a discount on your Council Tax, for example if you live alone. You do not have to be a pensioner to be eligible.

The benefit is administered by local authorities on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, and claim forms are available from local councils. If you claim pension credit, income support or jobseeker's allowance you will also receive a form to claim Council Tax benefit.  This should be returned to your local council. Alternatively, pensioners who wish to apply are asked to call the pension credit application line on 0800 99 1234

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Unless you are aged 60 or over and receive the guarantee credit of Pension Credit, savings of more than £16,000 usually mean you cannot get Council Tax benefit. Savings over £3,000 or £6,000 if you or your partner are aged 60 or over will affect how much benefit you will receive. Council Tax benefit minister Chris Pond says: 'Some pensioners may wrongly believe that they might not qualify for a Council Tax rebate, for example, because they live in a big house or own their home. If in doubt, there's no harm in checking.'

More information is available by logging on to www.dwp.gov.uk from where you can print out a form you can fill in with a pen.

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

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HOPES OF COUNCIL TAX DISCOUNT FLEXIBILITY ENDED

FIRST PUBLISHED BY: LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHRONICLES

MINISTERS HAVE SLAMMED THE DOOR ON HOPES OF GREATER LOCAL DISCRETION OVER COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT DISCOUNTS AS THE LOBBYING OVER THE REFORMS STEPS UP A NOTCH.

Hopes had been growing that councils could be allowed to reduce the single person’s discount after Baroness Hanham, left, invited the LGA to outline its concerns on welfare reforms in the Local Government Finance Bill.

However, a spokesman for the Department for Communities & Local Government dismissed claims the 25% single person’s discount could be scrapped. “The government has looked at the case for ending the single person discount, and we have rejected it. It has no intention of imposing a new stealth tax on eight million single people.”  

LGA political leaders will meet local government minister Baroness Hanham this week as the bill enters the House of Lords and at a time when Conservative peers are hoping to secure “significant changes” to the legislation. Baroness Hanham, who will oversee the finance bill as it passes through the Lords, has already asked the LGA to formally set out its concerns and, although it refused to release the letter ahead of the meeting, LGC understands the objections raised were the same as at a recent meeting with peers.

They include frustration at Council Tax ‘localisation’, under which councils will be unable to amend existing discounts of pensioners and single people, concern about the short timetable and government assumptions that demand for Council Tax benefit will fall in future years.

LGA chair Sir Merrick Cockell (Con) told executive members: “Baroness Hanham requested a clear letter from us and she has had that and it is being carefully considered.” Sir Merrick said the LGA “agreed with the principles of localisation - what we disagree with is that we are hamstrung”. Gary Porter, leader of the LGA’s Conservative group, left, said nothing was assured, but said ministers “are receptive to the message”.

The LGA and individual councils have calculated that even partial flexibility over the 25% single person discount could help councils tackle next year’s 10% Council Tax benefit funding cut without reducing discounts for those on low incomes or cutting spending elsewhere. LGC understands senior finance officers intend to press the case with officials at DCLG in the coming weeks. Barnsley MBC leader Steve Houghton (Lab), whose authority would only need to reduce the discount from 25% to 20% to meet a £2.2m funding cut, said the discount “does not make any sense”.

Essex CC have similarly calculated single persons discount will cost around £50m a year, well above the £10m cut in funding which the county faces. A spokesman for Essex said: “Allowing more flexibility around single persons discount could offset some or all of the pressure being placed on the new Council Tax support scheme and its beneficiaries.”

During an initial debate in the Lords last week, Baroness Eaton (Con) called for councils to be given “as much flexibility as possible to reform Council Tax discounts so that they can manage the financial risk” while Lord Jenkin of Roding (Con) likened the bill’s centralising tendencies to the Localism Bill. “Happily on that occasion we did secure some significant changes. I hope that we may be able to do so here,” he said.

The changes to Council Tax benefit are happening alongside wider welfare reforms, including the introduction of universal credit which will cap benefits received by families. The LGA has appealed for individual authorities to share any information they have on the impact of the changes on residents and councils. Analysis by Sandwell MBC suggests one unintended consequence could be benefit cuts for families enrolled on the DCLG’s £448m troubled families programme.

Chief executive Jan Britton said there was a risk to the government’s wider strategy. “On the one hand, it’s just announced extra cash for councils to tackle the ‘problem families’ costing the public purse the most - but, on the other, these may well be hardest hit by welfare changes.”

The first in-depth academic study of the effect of capping the local housing allowances on the private rented sector, published by the Department for Work & Pensions last week, has shown that two-third of large landlords said the cap was causing their tenants to fall into arrears. The study did not, however, find strong evidence of other predicted consequences, such as migrations from high-rent areas such as London to cheaper areas.

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


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POOREST PAY THE HIGHEST PRICE

FIRST PUBLISHED BY: THE GUARDIAN 

POLL TAX DEMONSTRATIONS IN 1990 HELPED KILL OFF AN UNFAIR SYSTEM. BUT ITS REPLACEMENT CREATED A NEW SET OF INEQUALITIES.

A campaign was launched this week to change the Council Tax system to make it fairer to low income families, who pay a far higher share of their income than richer households. Council Tax, as it is currently constituted, is the most unfair and regressive of Britain's major taxes, says the new Centre for Council Tax Reform (CCTR), set up by the left-of-centre independent think-tank, the New Policy Institute, to win support for a fairer, more democratic, tax.

It is the largest direct tax for low income families, says the CCTR, with the poorest one-third of British households paying more in Council Tax than income tax. Even though many low income families pay nothing as a result of Council Tax benefit, on average households in this group pay between £500 and £600 in Council Tax each year.

The tax is "deeply regressive" because households living in the most expensive properties rated in the top Council Tax band pay only three time more than those in the cheapest, bottom band properties, even though variations in house prices and family incomes are many times greater. The result is that, even taking into account Council Tax benefit, Council Tax payments average at over 6% of disposable income for the poorest third, while for the richest third the figure is around 3%. "Council Tax is an unfair tax, but there's nothing wrong with it that straightforward reform can't put right," says the centre's coordinator Andrew Harrop. "It hits hard at some of Britain's poorest families and it does not treat like with like because Council Tax valuations are so out of date.

"The solution is both revaluation and comprehensive reform to increase the gap between top and bottom rates of Council Tax. Revaluation may have to wait for legislation, but making a start on change would be easy. There is nothing to stop ministers simply increasing the gap between the highest and lowest rates of Council Tax in time for 2002 bills which land on our doormats next April. Council Tax reform could be a quick and efficient way to redistribute income from some of Britain's richest families to some of the poorest, without breaking Labour's election pledges on income tax," he says.

But critics say the idea of simply upping the amount of Council Tax paid by families living in high-priced properties and reducing that paid by families in low-value homes could unfairly penalise people who work and, therefore, have to live in property "hotspots" such as London, where house values are high and virtually all homes fall into the top Council Tax bands. "The jury is still out on whether the government needs to do something specific about places like London and the South east," says Mr Harrop. "Research is needed into whether the income variants are in fact smaller than the house value variants. But owning an expensive property means you have a valuable asset and, in principle, it is right to tax assets of that value."

The CCTR, supported in its work by local authorities through the Local Government Information Unit and by the public service union PCS, has set up a website www.counciltaxreform.org to keep people informed on Council Tax and the state of the Council Tax debate. The centre is not alone in campaigning for Council Tax reform. In the last year the Commission on Taxation and Citizenship, the Local Government Association and Unison have all called for reform. And earlier this year 65 MPs signed a motion calling for change.

How Council Tax works

Council Tax is levied according to the value of the home each household occupies and is payable by households who rent as well as by owner occupiers. All homes are allocated to one of eight bands, with lowest value homes in Band A and highest value in Band H. Each year local authorities set the level of Council Tax for their area by determining the charge payable by households in Band D. In 2001/02 the average English council's Band D Council Tax is £901. The tax for households in each of the other bands is a fixed proportion of the Band D Council Tax for the local authority as follows:

Band / Value of home estimated at April 1991 / Proportion of the tax due for a band D property

A Under £40,000     -     66.6%

B £40,001-£52,000     -     77.7%

C £52,001-£68,000     -     88.8%

D £68,001-£88,000     -     100%

E £88,001-£120,000      -     122.2%

F £120,001-£160,000      -     144.4%

G £160,001-£320,000      -     166.6%

H Over £320,000      -     200%

Households with only one adult and those where a person has a disability are eligible for discounts on their Council Tax. Student households pay no tax at all. Households with low incomes can claim Council Tax benefit which covers some or all of the cost of Council Tax.

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

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NEW PROPOSALS MEANS SOME KINGSTON RESIDENTS COULD BE FORCED TO COUGH UP MORE COUNCIL TAX

FIRST PUBLISHED BY: THIS IS LOCAL LONDON

COUGH UP MORE COUNCIL TAX UNDER NEW PROPOSALS

Landlords, second home owners and more than 400 residents of working age could be forced to cough up more Council Tax under new proposals. Kingston Council’s new Council Tax benefit scheme aims to charge higher rates to those who can afford it, while protecting the elderly, disabled and vulnerable in a bid to make up a £1m shortfall.

The deficit comes after central Government decided to abolish the national Council Tax benefit scheme and cut funding by 10 per cent by April 1 next year, leaving the local authority in the lurch. Currently 9,600 Kingston residents are claimants of Council Tax benefit, that is means tested and helps people with low or no income to pay their Council Tax.

The plans aim to encourage people to work by rewarding those who do, while still protecting people on low incomes who are already struggling to make ends meet.Under the new scheme £100,000 will come from 400 people of working age who live with other working adults and will be asked to contribute more. The rest of the shortfall will be met by removing Council Tax exemptions and discounts on certain properties, including those that are not occupied as a main home. An empty homes premium of 50 per cent will also be charged on properties left empty for more than two years.

Councillor Rolson Davies, lead member for finance and resources, said: “We understand that our proposals will not be popular with those who we would be asking to pay more, but we have a responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable, including those people relying on our frontline services.” Tenants may have to pick up the shortfall after changes to Council Tax benefits, according to Chris Norris, head of policy at the National Landlords Association (NLA).

However, Mr Norris said good communication with both groups and the council could minimise any negative effect. He said: “Landlords will be keen to sustain long-lasting tenancies, so it is important that tenants and landlords work together to agree the best way to continue rent payments and sustain their tenancies.”

Pippa Mackie, chief executive of Kingston citizens advice bureau, said one problem area could be for former owners of repossessed houses, as building societies will be taxed after repossession and they could try and pass the cost on. She said: “I think that most people who are reliant on welfare benefit are concerned about the impact that changes might have on them. “There are going to be changes which may cause confusion so we will be working to make sure that as much information as possible is out there.” People who are of pension credit age or who are receiving a disability related benefit will not be affected by the changes.

A consultation on the proposed changes will start on July 2 and run until September 9, before being considered by the council’s policy and resources committee and full council in December.

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


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