Council defends jailing people for not paying tax

A COUNCIL has defended sending people who don’t pay council tax to prison after seeing more than a dozen of its residents locked up for the offence in recent years.

The Welsh Government is asking councils whether it should remove the threat of imprisonment for non-payment of council tax.

Vale of Glamorgan is expected to tell Welsh Government it is against the removing the threat – despite critics calling it a “Victorian” measure.

It comes after 16 people in the Vale have been put behind bars for nonpayment of council tax between 2013/14 and 2017/18.

A total of 19,839 summonses taking people to court were issued to Vale of Glamorgan residents in that time, leader of the council, John Thomas, confirmed in July.

The council also says it has secured £416,712 during the past four years from people who refuse to pay council tax through court summonses.

But it says thousands of warning letters, sent before it reaches the court summons stage, are being ignored by people who refuse to engage.

Vale of Glamorgan Council’s draft response to Welsh Government says: “To suggest that committal should end without a viable alternative is simply unrealistic and would inevitably lead to a reduction in collection rates when council resources and services are already over stretched.

“If no viable alternative is available then this could also encourage other customers who currently pay their council tax to resist payment as the collection process would be far less effective resulting in increased write offs.”

The council also says it is “very selective” in ensuring that action is only taken “against those debtors who refuse to engage”.

Imprisonment for non-payment of council tax was described by Plaid Cymru councillor Ian Johnson in July as a “Victorian practice”.

A study by the Institute of Money Advisers and Payplan last year found court action by local authorities against people with council tax debt has“increased dramatically” since 2012 in England and Wales.

Their report said: “The litigious nature of council tax collection is out of step with the way that other civil debts are dealt with in the courts.

“There is also clear evidence that there are miscarriages of justice in the imprisonment of people for having council debts. “The consequences for people imprisoned for council tax debt can be very severe. Advisers report that people who are behind with their bills often feel threatened with imprisonment even when there is no realistic prospect of lawful imprisonment in these cases.”

Vale of Glamorgan Council’s cabinet will be asked to approve the response on Monday (September 17).

A report to the cabinet says: “The council actively pursues debtors who have received reminders and court orders requiring them to pay their arrears of council tax, but who, despite being able to pay, have not done so.

“Action at this level is only taken as last resort with the numbers committed to prison being very low. No one has been imprisoned since January 2017 for non-payment of council tax in the Vale of Glamorgan.

“However, it is considered that this is an important option that the council should be able to utilise where an individual is opting not to pay their council tax bill.”