Council Tax on the way out ?

Reports coming out of the government suggest that the days of the Council Tax are numbered and the Liberal Democrat Alternative of Local Income Tax is being seriously considered, according to Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Michael Carr.

Reports in the press indicate the government is concerned at the mounting opposition to Council Tax. A report in the Sunday Telegraph (15 Feb 2004) predicts action soon.

"One un-named minister told the paper Tony Blair feared the tax "could become another fuel-tax protest unless something radical is done".

"It would be madness to go into the (general) election with council tax as it is. It is already unsustainable," the minister added.

The paper went on to say local government minister Nick Raynsford would float the plan in the next few weeks, when the government publishes interim results of a review of the tax.

Rossendale & Darwen Lib Dem PPC Mike Carr welcome the governments U-turn and said, "We have been telling them this for years and I am pleased that they seem to be recognising the unfairness in the present system. It looks as though Local Income Tax is a policy whose time has come."

Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign locally for the abolition of the Council Tax