Local government funding

The government is currently jailing pensioners for not paying the inflation busting increases in their council tax.

Now there is the school of thought which says

“Asset rich, cash poor pensioners should move to smaller houses, thereby releasing cash and reducing their tax”

And I think one or two people in the labour party really believe this, because they don’t really respect the concept of private property. They see large houses as “community assets” which should house large families, not single old people.

I take a different view. A great many pensioners are too old or frail to move, and frankly, the state shouldn’t force them to do so through punitive taxation.

So the question becomes “How should we fund local government?”

Well first, council spending should be capped to inflation or below, the lunatic increases we’ve seen have been funding idiotic jobs like (seriously) fruit
co-ordinators, whose jobs include giving instructions on how to eat carrots ! or, how would you fancy being arts and culture officer for Brent CC on £42K p.a. (culture does not come from the council guys) or the corporate director for continuous improvement (you tell me ?) in Aberdeen for £97K p.a. or “innovation and development manager for the housing corporation on £47K p.a. (what can they possibly do?) or a “young bisexual project officer” for Westminster on £16 per hour (Come on!) Don’t take my word for it. For a laugh/cry, check out

site

We are jailing old people to fund these jobs and it’s simply wrong.

So firstly, council spending should be cut back. How many of us really use their services anyway?

Second, there needs to be mechanism in place, to ensure there is downward pressure on council revenue raising. Council tax simply goes up, and has manifestly failed, we should replace it.

I believe a local sales tax maybe the answer as it is affordable and enforces downward tax competition amongst local authorities. For a fuller discussion, read this paper

site

It maybe the answer