At the last council meeting Conservatives on Sefton Council proposed that Sefton Council commit to holding a local referendum if Council Tax is to increase by 5% or more each year.
Labour rejected this proposal and the issue was raised again by Sefton Conservatives at a recent committee meeting alongside worries about the possible withdrawal of the Single Person Council Tax discount.
Councillor Mike Prendergast, the Leader of the Sefton Conservative Group, has expressed both concern and disappointment with the Labour Party at the recent Overview and Scrutiny Committee over there refusal to support a resolution put forward calling on the Council to oppose withdrawing this important concession and their unwillingness to give local people a say in potentially huge Council Tax increases.
Cllr Prendergast said,
“My colleague, Sir Ron Watson, moved a resolution at the committee meeting based on a report to the committee and pointed out that that at a national level the Labour controlled Local Government Association have called for councils to be given the power to abolish the Single Person Discount and also to remove the requirement to hold a local referendum if they wish to impose a Council Tax increase in excess of 4.99%
There is growing public concern over this issue with significant media coverage and most of the people that receive this discount are actually widows and widowers, often on very low incomes, who have already been hit hard by Labour through the withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Allowance.
The Labour Party’s refusal to support representations not to alter the current discount and not allow local tax payers a say on large Council Tax increases seems to be part of their agenda and adds to the concern of so many people in Sefton.
Since running Sefton Council, Labour have increased Council Tax by around 43% and they’ve never seen a problem that can’t be solved by taking more of other people’s money.
With ever growing concerns about the forthcoming budget, Sefton residents need to be able to plan for the future and budget for how much Labour are planning to take from them.
We need clarity on whether Sefton Labour are going to keep the Single Person Discount and whether they plan to tax to the max, if the current rules around Council Tax increases change.”
