The government has unveiled council tax figures for the coming year - ahead of likely moves to cap the worst offending town halls.

Average Band D Council Tax bill will rise by 5.9 per cent to £1,167 in the coming year, it was announced on Thursday.

The government had already warned that council tax increases have reached the limits of acceptability and is set to use capping powers for those local authorities who have failed to respond to the warning.

In London council tax is set to rise by three times the rate of inflation, although it is thought that most councils will escape capping.

Mayor Ken Livingstone has increased his Greater London Authority precept by 7.5 per cent.

Capping

Ministers were not announcing on Thursday, however, which local authorities may be capped by central government.

But it is likely to some councils will be forced to back down on their proposed increases.

The government, meanwhile, is currently conducting a review of local authority funding in a bid to quell a looming revolt over recent increases.

Local government minister Nick Raynsford has hinted that ministers may consider alternatives including a hybrid property and income tax.

Stealth tax

The Tories claim councils are being forced to increase tax as a result of targets and costs imposed by central government.

They say the recent increases are a direct result of the chancellor's "stealthy" approach to tax rises.

Shadow local government spokesman Caroline Spelman said: "Council tax has gone through the roof under Labour. A typical household now pays almost £500 a year more in tax, an increase of 70 per cent since 1997.

"Every year Labour promises a generous funding settlement but every year council tax has risen by an average of three times the rate of inflation.

"Council tax bills are now equivalent to almost a hundred pounds a month snatched from people's pay packets and pensions.

"Council tax has become a stealth tax, engineered by Gordon Brown through fiddled Whitehall funding, but with local councillors taking the blame when council tax bills hit the doorstep."

The Liberal Democrats have already called for the complete abolition of the charge, preferring a local income tax.