Council tax: police under pressure
Author: The Times |
Two police authorities face being capped after setting excessive council tax increases well above the average 3 per cent rise for England, the Government announced last night.
John Healey, the local government minister, said that he would start the capping process for Derbyshire and Surrey police authorities after their proposed tax rises of 8.68 per cent and 7.07 per cent respectively. Surrey police has been capped for the second year in a row.
The move came after Mr Healey announced that the average Band D council tax bill would go up from April 1 by £41 – or 3 per cent – to £1,414. The rise is the lowest for 15 years but it is more than 30 times the retail prices index, which now stands at zero.
Council tax has gone up by nearly 105 per cent since Labour took power in 1997 and has led to household bills going above £3,000 per annum.