Taxing local voters

There have been few better demonstrations of the enduring popularity of lower taxes. In 2012, the Government set a rule requiring local authorities to hold a referendum if they wanted to raise council tax by 2 per cent or more. In the three years following, not one dared to do so and the only vote to be held, in 2015 by the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner, was roundly rejected by a margin of two to one. After a decade of above-inflation rises, often accompanied by poor quality services, local taxation had finally been brought under control.

Which is why the Government’s decision to raise that cap to 6 per cent, an average of nearly £100 a year extra per household, is so perplexing. The 2 per cent recently became 5 per cent in order to fund social care, and the new money this time is intended to pay for local services.

It has presumably been decided that this is good politics, a way to undercut Jeremy Corbyn’s high-spending appeal, while shifting the blame for unpopular higher taxes onto councillors. It is unlikely to work.

It will not only damage the Conservatives’ hard-won reputation as the party of lower taxation, but risks looking irresponsible. There are undoubtedly problems in the social care sector, and local government has endured a period of necessary belt-tightening along with the rest of the public sector.

But the extra money local taxpayers will be required to hand over to their councils is not tied to government demands for more reform or greater efficiencies. What guarantee is there that it will not be squandered, rather than spent on the public’s priorities?