Guildford Write-off £102,000 in Council Tax

11.27.11am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 11th Apr 2008

Council tax is an unfair tax. It penalises people on low incomes.

Guildford Borough Council wrote off £102,000 of Council Tax as uncollectable in 2006-07. Overall, English councils wrote off more than £130m of unpaid tax last year, according to figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Neighbouring Waverley Borough Council wrote off £15,000 over the same period, and Mole Valley District Council £121,000.

Commenting on these figures, Sue Doughty said, "With such a tight budget settlement this year, writing off £130m is only going to make the financial squeeze on council services even worse.

"When councils are already taking extreme measures to collect unpaid council tax, such as using bailiffs and even making people file for bankruptcy, it's clear that the council tax system is failing.

"This is an unfair tax that overstretched families are struggling to pay and councils are spending huge amounts of money and time trying to collect. It's time that it was abolished and replaced with a local income tax based on the ability to pay, and not property prices."