I'm totally hacked off at the extortionate rise in council taxes when all I see in goverment is waste and bureaucracy. For any of you that share my concern here's a letter to my local paper, in response to our councillors assertion that pensioners should be exempt from the rise:
Letters
The Kent and Sussex Courier
Longfield Road
Tunbridge Wells
TN2 3HL
Sir,
Messrs Worrall and Bruce-Lockhart miss the point entirely in defending the borough council’s 134,000 pensioners against a council tax increase running at 4 ½ times UK inflation.
I am saddened at the thought of our elderly stumping up this ridiculous sum. Nevertheless, it’s no more true to say that pensioners are all impoverished than it is to say that twenty-somethings are all rolling in it. To make such assumptions smacks in the extreme of discrimination. Our borough has more than its fair share of wealthy pensioners who sit on a seven figure store of value thanks to another kind of inflation - in house prices. While there are undoubtedly many old folk doing their best to stretch a meagre state pension, there are others who benefit from generous final salary schemes. What then of the young doctor who bears the burden of an onerous student loan, or the 20 year old legal secretary who took a pay cut this year and who annually parts with £2,500 for a season ticket not worth twopence? What will you allow for those of us with young families, or we newly-weds who must scrimp and save and eat baked beans for a house deposit? The twin evils Hardship and Poverty visit us throughout our lifetimes.
Yes pensioners should be safeguarded from the effects of profligate government spending, and so must the rest of us. Messrs Worrall and Bruce Lockhart often and all too easily pass the buck, crowing loudly about central government’s misappropriation of funds to other regions. But it is plain to see that huge economies can and must be made in local government. On presenting hard working people with a rise 4.5 times that of inflation we would like clarification that you have explored every available cost saving measure, including, but not limited to:
· Downsizing the considerable army of council staff and officials
· Stopping ploughing millions into perfectly serviceable parks
· Resisting the urge to spend another £100,000,000 on speed bumps, bus lanes or cycle paths
It is clear that our borough is at crisis point and cannot afford these things. So Messrs Worrall and Bruce-Lockhart, you’ll just have to be patient like the rest of us! Come to think of it - you might have to wait for your council tax this year. You see we’ve had the funds misappropriated towards resources elsewhere.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Lack
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