“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul”.
George Bernard Shaw
In England, there are 326 tax collecting authorities, and it will be no surprise that local authorities can not collect all of their Council Tax.
None of us likes paying any form of tax, but if they must be paid then it is important that everyone pays fairly. The big surprise was the variation in uncollected tax per household.
An astonishing £2,360,000,000 (£2.4Billion) remains uncollected from households across England. This means that every tax paying house has contributed just over £100 to make up for the non paying households. Top of the list is Liverpool where a remarkable £114 Million or £528 per house remains uncollected. The best performer is South Cambridgeshire where the cumulative total is a much lower £664,000 or just £11 per house.
East Hampshire District council ranks at 22nd out of 326 with the liability at £27 per household.
There are a number of good reasons why people can not pay their Council Tax, and redundancy is one of the biggest issues that currently faces us. EHDC works with people who have been made unemployed to ensure they are helped with the right benefits where appropriate (which may include Council Tax Exemption), and for those with genuine short term needs to plan in repayment plans to help get back on track. EHDC Does have a policy of recovery from Tax Evaders to ensure that the rest of us are protected.
To download a full list of all 326 authorities as an Excel file click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/c3d4otq
The table below is a summary of the 20 or so best and worst Councils with EHDC highlighted in Yellow. Remember the middle 280 have been taken out to show the two extremes.
