Council tax rises leave householders wondering what they’re paying for

SIR – Councillor Eveleigh Moore Dutton (Letters, March 18) says that council tax buys a huge range of services besides bin collection. The reality is that council tax tends to be hugely regressive, as those who contribute the most tend to use fewest services while paying a larger percentage of income tax.

I live in Surrey (which has made the maximum 4.99 per cent increase) on a road where the residents fund the upkeep. The public highways are riddled with holes, state schools are over-subscribed and many families pay for their children’s education. We pay for our own sporting activities, never see the police and would be ineligible for social-care support.

As Kevin Platt (Letters, March 18) says, I am funding a generous pension scheme for council employees, but that is rarely mentioned. Stuart Southall East Horsley, Surrey SIR – I sympathise with Peter Williams (Letters, March 17), who pays £1,494 in council tax and wonders what he gets for it. We are in the same situation, except that we have three beds and our bins are emptied fortnightly. Our new tax figure is £2,152. This is in a deprived area of South Wales run by our caring Labour council. Pat King Neath, Glamorgan SIR – Mr Williams’s bill, if he moved to Nottinghamshire, would be £2,170, as ours is, and he’d have to pay extra for the collection of garden waste. Ralph Bollington Beeston, Nottinghamshire SIR – I received two disappointing letters last week. One from the Department for Work and Pensions said that I am to receive £156 extra pension in the coming year. Another from East Sussex council told me that my council tax will increase by £114. So I will be £42 a year better off, which is 80p a week. Whoopee! John Slowly Crowborough, East Sussex SIR – We live seven miles from the nearest market town, the roads to which are breaking up. We do not have pavements or street lights. My council tax is one and a half times that of the penthouse suite in the Shard. Bill Woodhouse Mappowder, Dorset SIR – More than 15 per cent of my state pension goes in council tax. In the Conservative booklet A Contract for Equalities, Theresa May says: “We will make Britain a fairer society for all.” How many MPs pay 15 per cent of their income as council tax? Chris Bocock Quorn, Leicestershire SIR – My council may be hopeless at picking up litter, dealing with planning applications and filling in potholes, but I sleep soundly knowing that any motorist daring to park an inch over a double yellow will be ticketed within minutes of parking. Stephen Knight Barnet, Hertfordshire