Siobhain backs Council Tax freeze

After Merton Council announced it will be the only Council in South London to freeze Council Tax AND to maintain Council Tax rebates for the low paid, Siobhain said it was taking the right approach.

Click here for further details about the decision.

Merton’s Councillors have voted on Council Tax, and for the 3rd year running the Labour administration has decided to freeze Council Tax here in Merton. That means households will pay no more in 2013 than you did in 2010. It’s the first time ever that Council Tax has been frozen for three consecutive years in Merton. 
 
That’s quite an achievement, because you only have to open the papers to see that times are very tough for Councils. Council funding is being reduced by around 30% and Merton is having to make savings of £70m.  
 
It’s a difficult balance, because the Council still has to pay to collect rubbish, sweep the streets, run schools, and provide care for the elderly, but it’s good to see their top priority is not to put up your Council Tax.

This year, it's reckoned around a third of Councils are putting up the headline Band D figure of Council Tax, while the vast majority are making people on low incomes pay more after the Government cut funding for rebates by 10% and told Councils to consult about raising taxes. Merton is one of only a handful of Councils in the country not to put up Council Tax for people on low incomes.

As a result, Merton is the only Council in South London that has frozen its Council Tax AND maintained the same level of Council Tax rebates for households on low wages.

Siobhain said: "These are hard times, and as we saw in the Budget last week, cuts are being made. But it's good to see that Merton Council is doing its bit to help hard-working residents keep their costs down. It's really good news that they have protected people on low wages, and I think they've got the balance right between protecting priority services like street cleaning and looking after the elderly, and keeping taxes low."