Despite a £3 million enquiry lasting four years the Government has quietly dropped plans to replace council tax with a fairer system. It has been revealed that ministers will never release a response to the former council chief Sir Michael Lyons' report. The review was set up in 2003 amid mounting anger at huge rises in council tax bills.
Sarah Carr, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Hereford and South Herefordshire has expressed her anger at the news,
"Much to the disdain of local residents Conservative-led Herefordshire Council has just announced another increase in council tax of 4.4%. Council tax is massively unpopular, unfair and the system must be changed. It is wrong that people struggling on low incomes can pay more council tax than many top earners and that elderly people are particularly penalised by the huge bills."
While the Conservatives introduced the massively unfair tax, the Labour Government have made it worse, partly by inaction and partly by their over-centralised control of the council grant system.
"It seems the Lyons Report has been kicked into the long grass. The report concluded that council tax was not fit for purpose and had some fairly modest proposals to tackle some of the unfairness. My Liberal Democrat colleagues and I will continue to campaign for a fairer system with council tax scrapped."
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Previous news story: Sarah Carr and daughter march for our schools! (Fri 15th Feb 2008).
Next news story: EXCESS PROFITS AND DECLINING VALUE OF WINTER FUEL PAYMENTS LEAVE PENSIONERS IN THE COLD (Fri 22nd Feb 2008).
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