Moves to make previously exempt Herefordshire households pay a share of council tax have been slammed as an attack on the county’s poor.
Herefordshire Council, which faces a budget shortfall of £11.8 million this financial year, is currently consulting with residents on changing its council tax reduction scheme from April, the start of the next financial year.
Since 2021 the council has let off those in most financial need from paying the tax, regardless of which band their property falls into.
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With over 6,500 working-age adults and 4,700 pensioners eligible, this represents around £16.4 million a year in forgone income to the council.
It is now looking at a range of ways to reduce this figure, given the recent substantial cut to the amount it gets from central government.
Setting the level of council tax paid by lowest earning working-age claimants to 20 per cent would bring in an extra £2.3 million a year, while a 50 per cent rate would bring in £5.1 million, the consultation says.
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The council also proposes that those who are eligible for a discount but who live in a more highly-valued band D property or above would pay the difference between its full council tax bill and the band C amount.
Currently exceptions to the full council tax exemption are made to around a thousand county households which include a ‘non-dependent’ fellow resident — a friend, relative or grown-up child — for whom a sliding amount of council tax is already payable depending on the resident’s earnings.
The council is now proposing a flat-rate £15 a week tax here, yielding around an extra £600,000 a year.
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It also wants to cut the time a household can be absent from the UK in a year and still remain eligible, from the current 13 weeks to four.
Pensioners are unaffected by the proposed changes, as their council tax discount comes via a national scheme.
The consultation is open until November 4.
Liberal Democrat group leader Coun Terry James said: “I’m not convinced it’s an appropriate or morally correct thing to do.
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“It’s hitting the poor and low-paid.”
Other opposition group leaders were also asked to comment.
Herefordshire Council has also said it is considering selling off council assets to make up its shortfall — though senior figures would not be drawn on what those assets might be when pressed by councillors at a full meeting last week.
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