Charity groups demand reform of council tax charges

Help the Aged and The Royal British Legion have joined forces today to demand a reform of council tax and Council Tax Benefit.

The two charities say that "annual inflation-busting" increases in council tax "unfairly discriminate" against older people, whose incomes tend to be fixed or linked to inflation.

This view is supported by a new report by the New Policy Institute, 'The impact of Council Tax on older people's income', commissioned by Help the Aged.

Over the past 10 years, council tax in England has almost doubled but most pensions are linked to price inflation, which has only increased by a quarter, the report found.

The average council tax-paying household now spends 3% of its income paying the tax, but the tax burden on pensioner households is much higher. For instance, it is twice as high on a single council taxpayer aged 75 or over, who, on average, spends 6% of household income on the tax, according to the report.

Currently, only 60% of eligible pensioners claim Council Tax Benefit. The charities are calling on the government to aim for 90% take-up within three years.

This could be achieved, the charities say, by changing Council Tax Benefit from a benefit to a system for assessing a household's maximum liability for council tax. The Pension Service could calculate this at the same time as other benefits, cutting out the need for a separate application to the Local Authority.

In addition, Help the Aged and The Royal British Legion are calling for an end to council tax rises that exceed actual increases in local government spending. If this had been applied over the past 10 years, Council Tax would now be 20% lower than it is, the groups said.

Richard Wilson, Incomes Policy Officer for Help the Aged, said: "The government needs to act decisively if it wants to stem a growing pensioner rebellion over council tax."

Terry English, Director of Welfare at The Royal British Legion, said that the tax rise was "debilitating for our membership, many of whom are on service pensions".

(gmcg)