Forum Brief: Pension protest

Pensioners campaigning against big council tax increases are calling on the public to "go slow" on payments to cause administrative chaos.

The Harrow Council Tax Campaign, which has 1,000 activists and 17,000 supporters, will ask residents to stop all standing orders and direct debit arrangements.

Forum Response: Association of Retired and Persons Over 50

Don Steele, director of social policy at ARP/O50, told ePolitix.com: "We completely understand the frustration of people whose council tax may rise by almost 20 per cent next year, when the government has fixed a pension increase of 2.8 per cent.

"And we would support any action, short of breaking the law, which makes it clear to government that this is a situation that older people will no longer tolerate."

Forum Response: Age Concern

Gordon Lishman, Age Concern's director general, told ePolitix.com: "Inflation-busting increases in the council tax are a burden to everyone on a lower income, especially older people who are on fixed incomes.

"It would be fairer to everyone if there was a system of taxation that took into account people's incomes instead of property values."

Forum Response: Help the Aged

Ben Harding, spokesman for Help the Aged, told ePolitix.com: 'We believe that council tax and council tax benefit are both in need of serious reform.

"Around one third of older people who qualify for council tax benefit do not claim, and recent and predicted rises in the tax, which are way above inflation, impact heavily on those older people whose incomes are only increasing in line with prices.

"The fact that the Harrow Council Tax Campaign group has grown so quickly in size and effectiveness is due in no small part to the remarkable tenacity and commitment shown by Mr Shinewald.

"It also shows that council tax and its disproportionate effect on the incomes of older people is an issue that will not go away. Indeed, with the next round of council tax rises due to become public, the issue is likely to dominate local and national politics for some time to come, with groups of older people leading the way.

'The government needs to act decisively if it wants to stem a growing pensioner rebellion over council tax."

Forum Response: Local Government Information Unit

Dennis Reed, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, told ePolitix.com: "The LGIU has great sympathy for those suffering through the regressive nature of the council tax.

"We want to move this debate forward from just highlighting the well-documented unfairness of the council tax to developing an alternative more linked to the ability to pay. Then we'll all have something positive to campaign for and not just against.

"Otherwise much of the debate goes on in a vacuum and some daft statements are made, such as one or two voices advocating bringing back the poll tax - a flat rate levy that was even less related to the ability to pay than the council tax!

"As a positive way forward, the government can add some extra council tax bands, rather than just going through a revaluation excercise, and look at other regional variations that establish more of a direct income link.

"The LGIU also wants the government to take some of the pressure off the council tax, or whatever follows it, by wider reforms of local government finance that would broaden the tax base of local government, through localising business rates, introducing a range of new green and consumer taxes and new trading and charging powers for councils.

"In the meantime, the LGIU would want all campaigning on the council tax issue to be within the rule of law, as local government taxation will be reformed through the democratic process rather than by law breaking. Moreoever, any campaigns involving non-payment merely put more pressure on local services upon which many of those protesting will rely and will have little impact on Whitehall.This would be self-defeating and futile."