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Greens challenge Tories on tax freeze "myths"

By James Ledward
Nov 7, 2011 - 12:34:16 PM
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Councillor Jason Kitcat, Green Cabinet Member for Finance, has challenged local Tories to list the £4m worth of extra service cuts they support to enable the council tax freeze they advocate.

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Cllr Jason Kitcat

Ministers announced plans for a one year council tax freeze at the Conservative party conference last month.
 
The £4m shortfall is mainly because the ‘tax freeze’ grant is available for one financial year only. This means that next year the council tax base will be 2.5% lower than it where would ordinarily be if a raise had been levied, and will leave future increased worth less than they otherwise would have been. The grant being equivalent to only a 2.5% rise is worth £1m less than the 3.5% increase proposed by the administration. Combined, these costs are about £4m for the next two financial years.
 
Councillor Kitcat, commented:
“The government’s proposals are a short term gimmick which would land this council with an additional cost of £4 million over the next two years, on top of the huge cuts Tories are imposing on us.”
 
“As Brighton & Hove are already facing above average cuts in our government funding it’s reckless for the local Conservatives to be advocating this grant. They should list the £4m worth of additional service cuts they’d advocate before promoting the Government’s ill-advised scheme.”
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Cllr Geoffrey Theobald

Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, leader of the Conservative group, said:
"If the Greens think that helping hard pressed residents by freezing council tax is, as Cllr. Kitcat states, ‘a gimmick’, then it shows just how out of touch with reality they really are.
 
"As local government finance expert from the London School of Economics,  Professor Tony Travers confirmed on the BBC Politics Show on Sunday, the Green’s proposed 3.5% increase in council tax will hit those on lowest incomes the hardest. We absolutely agree with Prof. Travers that this is a politically-motivated decision by the Greens to try and make them, as he said, “stand out from the crowd”.

"Surely the fact that they appear to be the only council in the country going down this route should tell them something?

"I think it is the height of irresponsibility to be turning down this £3 million of Government money and I would urge them to reconsider their decision not to freeze the council tax."

 


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