£3.6m uncollected - and then they ask for more

The local council hasn’t collected £3.6m, yes £3.6m, worth of council tax and then they have the nerve to ask for more.

I just can’t beleive this story that was published today in the York Evening Press (www.thisisyork.co.uk).

We the public pay money to the council to collect money and then they can’t do it. They were 94% successful in collecting.

This has really got me fuming - they blame the new IT system that the public have paid for saying they can’t get reminders out to people and then they ask for an above the inflation increase in council tax - probably to fill the hole in the budget that the lack of proper collection of last years tax has caused.

This is not just good enough.

People will always try and get out of paying more tax so what could be done to make sure that people pay. One idea that I have had is for a person - when they have paid their tax - to be issued with a card stating so and this card also carries an expiry date. Without this card they can’t use council services - i.e. they could get kicked out of their council home, can’t claim benefit, can’t get a library card, can’t send their kids to school and can’t get their bins emptied.

Basically - If you pay, you get.