Daily Express: Green bin fees 'just one more tax on families'

By Alison Little

FEARS rose yesterday that "pay-as-you-throw'' rubbish collection fees will become a new stealth tax on hard-pressed families.

The concerns grew after council leaders set out a list of possible ways to levy charges.

Pre-paid rubbish bags and wheelie bins fitted with microchips to weigh garbage were among the options for making householders pay for what they put out.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, insisted the proposals were aimed at cutting waste and promoting recycling.

It denied that what it dubbed "save as you throw'' proposals would be used as a stealth tax to raise extra cash.

But Blair Gibbs, campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Past experience of rising council tax, alongside the introduction of parking charges in the 90s, gives the public good reason to distrust promises that pay-as-you-throw will mean lower council tax.

"Parking charges have become a stealth tax enabling councils to raise extra revenue, and there is every danger that bin charges will go the same way.

"People may be prepared to accept variable charging as an issue of fairness, but cuts in council tax would have to be in the order of £20 a month to justify charging, and no current proposals from the Government guarantee that council tax will be reduced at that level to compensate.

"Families have never paid so much council tax and when asked if they'd like charges on top of council tax - as is likely to happen - they give a very different response.'' Dr Michael Warhust, senior waste campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "We support initiatives which reward people who recycle, but councils need to ensure that everyone has access to a good roadside recycling service with a weekly food waste collection.'' The LGA outlined three schemes it said councils could use to reduce the amount of rubbish that residents threw out for disposal in landfill sites.

Householders could pay for differently sized rubbish sacks, or have microchips in wheelie bins to weigh waste as it is loaded on to refuse trucks. Residents would then be billed for what they put out.

The third option would be to let householders choose the size of wheelie bin they use, based on how much rubbish they thought they would put out, and be charged accordingly.

The LGA said any scheme would depend on local circumstances and need residents' backing.

It warned that taxpayers would bear the brunt of fines of up to £3billion which will be imposed on councils over the next four years if they do not meet EU targets for cutting the waste going into landfill.

It said a survey by Ipsos Mori had found that 38 per cent of people strongly supported a system in which they would pay lower council tax while being charged directly for the amount of rubbish they generated. A further 26 per cent said they "tended to support'' proposals under which the more they recycled, the less they would pay.

But Shadow Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said:

"Under the Government plans for bin taxes there will be no reduction in council tax. The overall burden of taxation will rise so householders will pay more.

"Labour ministers have already been warned that bin taxes will lead to a huge increase in fly-tipping and backyard burning.

"There is more than a whiff of desperation with their bin tax plans if they need to rely on loaded questions.

"The Government's half-baked plans wouldn't add up to a green measure - they are simply another stealth tax.''