Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
#1
I thought this article may be of interest to all of us struggling to meet our increased council tax bill.
More than £130 million of unpaid council tax was written off by town halls last year, new figures have revealed.
Statistics collated by the Government show that many councils have given up chasing millions of pounds each.
According to a paper placed in the House of Commons Library on the first day of MPs' Easter recess, some £133,755,000 was written off by English councils in 2006/7.
The biggest write-off by a single authority was £6.4m by Haringey in London, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Across regions, the East Midlands lost £7.9 million, the East of England £9.2 million, London £49.2 million, the North East £4.4 million, the North West £18.6 million, the South East £17.2 million, the South West £10.7 million, the West Midlands £6.7 million and Yorkshire and Humberside £9.9 million.
The figures include some amounts outstanding from previous years.
The TaxPayers' Alliance described the figures as "shocking".
"Councils spend a lot of money on tax collection, so it's unforgivable that they are still writing off so much in missed payments," a spokesman said.
"At a time when pensioners are being sent to jail for not being able to pay relatively small amounts, it is shocking that councils are happy to write off millions.
"Council tax is putting an unsustainable burden on ordinary families, and allowing this hole in the budget to continue adds to that burden."
I would be very interested to learn how much Dover DC have written off.Any Councillor prepared to step forward with an answer?
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 654- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 169
#2
Marek
I do understand where your coming from, it may be of interest that councils(Dover District)do chase all people that owe dosh, and although the figure is high as to those not caught up with, there has to come a point where you stop chasing as it costs a lot more to find them that it does to write it off.
I'm not defending councils(as thankfully im out of all that now)
but last time i saw figures, Dover's figures of getting all the dosh in was very high, and only people who had disappeared and it became questionable as to how many fone calls, letters, visits, you make before it becomes to costly.
But maybe our watty might like to add to this?
When i say the figure is high I mean in financial terms and not person numbers, I think it was around 98% collected in Dover, but im happy to be corrected.
I'm aware of someone who told me he owed 3 years council tax and never got caught, a few months later the caught up with him and he had to repay the 3 years and he couldnt disappear cos they had his employment details as well!
Could be an interesting debate though,
Watty you there???
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
#3
Working in such an area, it is quite easy to believe the figures...
Below a certain value persuing beyond a couple of letters isn't really viable and cost effective. Up to another limit they are passed onto a debt collector to try to collect. Above the final limit court summons are produced.
When dealing with people on benefits at times they are in B&B and then vanish with no way to trace.
Like Keef says targets and performance are well into the 90%+ so the loss is relatively small.....
Been nice knowing you :)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#4
marek
in some areas people are so transient that it would be impossible to track them down.
you mention haringay!!
i bet there are 3 or 4 lots of rent and council tax arrears per bedsit.
