23 February - Council Tax up by twice the rate of inflation again
I listened to the still ongoing Cabinet Meeting this evening
in order to hear the new Council Tax rate announced live. In practice not as easy as it
sounds because for the first hour the webcast audio, after delivering a few words,
dropped out for longish periods so it was impossible to follow the budget proposals in
detail. (†) They are what led to the usual maximum permissible increase of 4·99% (plus the Mayor of
London’s profligacy) being agreed. Council Tax is not actually set until Full Council next week
but that is a foregone conclusion..
The audio suddenly came good at 20:30 in time to hear the 4·99% increase agreed at 20:45 precisely.
Maybe someone could calculate when someone on average income getting a RPI
based pay increase each year will be shelling out all of his taxed income on Council Tax.
Such increases cannot go on for ever despite what politicians seem to think.
† My internet connection was fine, I checked by streaming video at the same time as Bexley Council was failing again.