Tax anomaly has worsened (From Lancashire Telegraph)

And water rates are based on rateable house values, so they get off with that, too.

This is a long posting, but I hope you will excuse the length.

I cannot help but think that the failure of the Conservative Government that introduced the Council Tax to create bandings beyond H, at £320,000, was quite simply because they were looking after themselves. After all there's little point being a national politician if you can't rig the system to aid yourself and your chums. Lest anyone thinks that this applies to members of the Conservative Party only then one has simply to look at the recent past leaders of the Labour Party to see the way in which personal gain has trumped national interest.

What is really surprising is that members of the political class express dismay and bewilderment that the citizenry at large have lost trust in them.

The funding of local government is a thorny issue and the mainstream political parties are simply adrift on the seas with no captain, no rudder and no sails. They are stuck in tram lines and completely bereft of original thought.

I would argue that we need to start at the smallest level, namely town and parish councils. These should be renamed Commonwealth Councils and councillors should be renamed Stewards. The Town Clerks should be re-titled Chief Custodian. I say this because I think our job is to hand-on to our children and grand-children something better than we have at the moment.

Then I would instruct the County Council and Borough Council to dislcose the amount of money they have squandered on management consultants in the last 10 years, which in all likelihood is all of it.

As an aside, the whole point of the re-organisation of local government in 1974 was that units of local administration would be big enough to employ the expertise they required. The fact that councillors have fallen for the 'consultancy' advocated by officers shows just how dopey, supine and clueless some of our elected representaives are. In fact if you wish to get a handle on just how clueless the political class are then I recommend listening to Question Time on BBC 1 and Any Questions on BBC Radio 4.

I would then restrict severely, by act of parliament if necessary, the power of county and district councils to engage external consultants and a sum of money equivalent to that paid to consultants in the last 10 years would have to be paid to the Commonwealth Councils who would be required to create a Commonwealth Fund by investing the money in public utilities and quasi-utilities, such as pfi and infrastructure companies and health service property companies - some of which are paying a dividend of 5.5% after tax - when the time is right, with a view to generating income to paying for local services.

Look, we're being ripped-off left, right and centre and it's about time we got some of this money back; and we need politicians that have real fire in their bellies and are prepared to fight our corner.

To prevent fraud the shares owned by the Commonwealth Council would have to be held in certificated form and this would be overseen by a body of Elected Elders.

That's my view. Pure and simple.

Thanks for reading.

Kevin, Colne wrote:
This is a long posting, but I hope you will excuse the length.

I cannot help but think that the failure of the Conservative Government that introduced the Council Tax to create bandings beyond H, at £320,000, was quite simply because they were looking after themselves. After all there's little point being a national politician if you can't rig the system to aid yourself and your chums. Lest anyone thinks that this applies to members of the Conservative Party only then one has simply to look at the recent past leaders of the Labour Party to see the way in which personal gain has trumped national interest.

What is really surprising is that members of the political class express dismay and bewilderment that the citizenry at large have lost trust in them.

The funding of local government is a thorny issue and the mainstream political parties are simply adrift on the seas with no captain, no rudder and no sails. They are stuck in tram lines and completely bereft of original thought.

I would argue that we need to start at the smallest level, namely town and parish councils. These should be renamed Commonwealth Councils and councillors should be renamed Stewards. The Town Clerks should be re-titled Chief Custodian. I say this because I think our job is to hand-on to our children and grand-children something better than we have at the moment.

Then I would instruct the County Council and Borough Council to dislcose the amount of money they have squandered on management consultants in the last 10 years, which in all likelihood is all of it.

As an aside, the whole point of the re-organisation of local government in 1974 was that units of local administration would be big enough to employ the expertise they required. The fact that councillors have fallen for the 'consultancy' advocated by officers shows just how dopey, supine and clueless some of our elected representaives are. In fact if you wish to get a handle on just how clueless the political class are then I recommend listening to Question Time on BBC 1 and Any Questions on BBC Radio 4.

I would then restrict severely, by act of parliament if necessary, the power of county and district councils to engage external consultants and a sum of money equivalent to that paid to consultants in the last 10 years would have to be paid to the Commonwealth Councils who would be required to create a Commonwealth Fund by investing the money in public utilities and quasi-utilities, such as pfi and infrastructure companies and health service property companies - some of which are paying a dividend of 5.5% after tax - when the time is right, with a view to generating income to paying for local services.

Look, we're being ripped-off left, right and centre and it's about time we got some of this money back; and we need politicians that have real fire in their bellies and are prepared to fight our corner.

To prevent fraud the shares owned by the Commonwealth Council would have to be held in certificated form and this would be overseen by a body of Elected Elders.

That's my view. Pure and simple.

Thanks for reading.

Totally agree Kevin, in all honesty no matter which party people follow i defy any one to show me a politician with any fire in their belly. but i do detect an air of frustration amongst the younger people in the country, politicians beware.

where's guy fawkes whe you need him? ;)

where's guy fawkes when you need him? ;)