AN Audit Commission report has triggered an angry accusation by council tax campaigners that local councils "want to have their cake and eat it". Published last Thursday, and evocatively entitled 'Positively charged – maximising the benefits of local public service charges', the report shows that one quarter of local councils now raise more money from their direct charges for services than they levy in council tax. Christine Melsom, founder of the Headley-based Isitfair protest group, believes the report serves as further evidence of an "insatiable thirst" by local councils for tax payers' money. And she was worried that the finding would be used by the Government to encourage the trend, resulting in a 'double whammy' for people who have to foot the bill. She said: "My first reaction to the Audit Commission's report was that it could have been called 'Positively Overcharged', a phrase which sums up the raw deal that is being dished out to council tax payers. "Last year (2006/2007) council tax in England raised £22.4bn – and on top of this councils raised a further £10.8bn from fees and charges." As such, Mrs Melsom believes "the Audit Commission's report is an open invitation for the Government to encourage councils to be more aggressive in their approach to levying direct charges". The campaigner pointed out that, according to the Audit Commission, services where there was a free market, such as care of the elderly, had shown a decline in council income from charges since 2001. By way of contrast, the greatest increase had been in services where councils had a near monopoly, such as car parking. She said: "Isitfair is concerned that the general tone of the report is to encourage further hikes in charges, and we expect this to be most evident in services where councils have least competition. "Isitfair hopes this will prove to be a further nail in the coffin for council tax. Council tax payers have had enough – the Government is giving the councils carte blanche to have their cake and eat it. We get relentless inflation-busting increases in our annual council tax bills and now we have to brace ourselves for further hikes in direct charges for council services, many of which used to be funded from council tax." Mrs Melsom pledged: "Isitfair will continue to campaign for a fairer system of taxation to fund local services. The present system of council tax bears no direct relationship to people's income and has become an unacceptable burden for many thousands of us."
