Vote Red Mist

You'll need plenty of £2 coins

As you may have heard, ex-Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie is so incensed by the unaccountable money burning antics of his local council that he's standing for election as a councillor. His Red Mist Party pledge card reads:

1. Cut car parking charges, which have just been increased by up to 43% in one year alone
2. Cut the pay of the council leader, which has just been increased by 40%
3. Scrap the final salary pension scheme for council employees (see many papers from the TaxPayers' Alliance)

He should poll well. Apart from his eye-catching policies, someone of MacKenzie's intelligence and energy is sure put a rocket up the council. We're just sorry he's not standing for our council.

MacKenzie's red mist descended because Elmbridge Council decided to increase the cost of his station's daily car parking charge by 43%. Just like that.

Interesting. Because all of us are suddenly realising how much these local authority charges have escalated. From car parks, to library fines (see this blog), to policing fees (see this blog), to pest control charges, these days local authorities routinely rack up their charges far faster than prices generally.

We've been taking a closer look at this. In 1997-98, charges and fees levied by English local authorities raised £5.5bn (excluding most council house rents). By 2005-06, the most recent year available, the total had shot up to £10.7bn, an average increase of 9% pa. Which compares to the government's official inflation rate (the Consumer Price Index) over that same period of just 1.3% pa.

Assuming this rate of charging increase has continued - and if MacKenzie's experience is anything to go by, that's a conservative assumption - by 2007-08 the total would have reached £12.6bn, more than £500 pa for every single household. Council charges now raise well over half the sum raised by Council Tax itself.

It's high time we started monitoring this properly. Because Council Tax is by far Britain's most unpopular tax, councils have become circumpect about increasing it, and anyway it's capped by Whitehall. But there are no such restraints on charges.

In principle, usage charges have a useful role to play as an alternative to taxation. But in practice, they are an addition to taxation: they are effectively yet another stealth tax.

Ever higher charges need to be opposed, just as Kelvin is doing.

Comments

[Hardeep_Singh]

Good luck to you Sir. Go fir it Kelvin and as the article says put a rocket up the so-and-so".

Finally someone who's going to bash the council with the same bat they use on everyone else. He may not get elected but at least he draws votes from all those other gold diggers with their faces in the trough.

Kelvin's little campaign may not necessarily win outright in a single attempt but slowly but surely and little by little we'll get there. As the Chinese say "death by a thousand small cuts". That's one just 999 more to go.

[Steve Robson]

You people are quite unbelievable. You don't like tax; I assume partly because the charge is decoupled from consumption and it is therefore redistributive and to some extent you are right that this reduces risk for the producer. You believe in charging for consumption at the point of consumption as the private sector mostly does, facing the risk of non-consumption and therefore no income. Of course your argument fails because public goods in a civilised society have to be allocated to some who can't afford to pay, therefore consumption and payment have to be decoupled. In the society of your vision, the poor would die for lack of healthcare that they can't afford and no tax means no public healthcare.

but leaving that aside and agreeing to differ on the need for public goods.

when the public sector does charge at the point of consumption, eg for parking....you don't like that either.

so I suspect its just the public sector and any concept of society that you oppose, rather than taxation...change your name to the Anti-Society Alliance and instal the wicked witch of the eighties as your president!

[Hardeep_Singh]

The issue of healthcare has little in my mind to do with Railway car parking charges and I fail to see how you can make the connection. It seeems that the daydream of socilaist revolves around healthcare, please snap out of it from time to time, you might just just the realities of the world.

You are indeed correct "You people are quite unbelievable. You don't like tax" well what exactly did you expect Steve this is a website for the Tax Payers Alliance after all!

Come, come Steve we are merely attempting to justify the tax increases and want a democratic system of 'involvement' we cannot afford not to.

[Mark]

The thing is, Steve, that charges are never used to replace council tax with a consumption model, they are used to raise money ON TOP of council tax.

Over the last ten years council tax has doubled and charges have more than doubled, too. Charges are being exploited as a further council tax rise by another name.