MULHOLLAND DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM GOVERNMENT ON 122% COUNCIL TAX RISE

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 18th Oct 2007

Greg Mulholland MP questioned the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Andy Burnham MP, on the floor of the House of Commons today on figures which show that in just three years the average Council Tax for many families will have risen by 122% since 1997.

The figures reveal that for a Band D property in 1997 the average council tax bill was £688 pounds, by the end of the Comprehensive Spending Review (in 3 years) it is predicted that this will have risen to £1529 pounds.

For the next three years Council tax is expected to rise by 5% every year, twice the rate of inflation.

Commenting Greg said:

"It is disgraceful that families across the UK are being put under this growing tax burden.

"The Government cannot maintain that when Council tax is predicted to rise at double the rate of inflation over the coming years that this will not have a huge impact on the money that hard-working families are bringing home.

"In just three years the average council tax bill for a Band D property is likely to climb to £1529 pounds, a whopping 122% rise since the Labour Government came into power in 1997.

"When is the Government going finally show leadership and bring in a fair system of local taxation?"