Grasp tax nettle (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Grasp tax nettle

11:13am Friday 29th May 2009

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AS if there hasn’t been enough nonsense from the House of Commons in recent weeks, the proposal of the Commons Communities and Local Government committee that a local income tax should be introduced will hardly go down well in most households.

There’s nothing wrong with a local income tax to fund local services. Indeed, it is probably the fairest way of funding local government and at the same time giving local councils more autonomy.

But it has been shied away from by successive governments, and what really will stick in the craw for most people is the idea in the committee’s report that a local income tax be introduced in addition to the existing council tax. Taxpayers will simply not believe that the overall tax burden would remain the same, as the committee blithely suggests.

While appreciating the difficulties governments have had in the past in changing local taxation systems – most notably the infamous poll tax – the two main parties have to grasp this nettle in their policy statements before the next election.

A local income tax is perhaps the only way to make local government more accountable but it has to be a substitution for the council tax – not an addition.

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