COUNCILLOR Tim O'Kane (Letters, April 3) must be either very young, or very naive if he thinks that the present council tax is a better system than the poll tax. The principle of the poll tax was that everybody should pay something, and spread the burden more evenly.

Collecting it was, and still is, the problem. If it was done via the pay packet like income tax it would be much fairer and, overall, the cost would be less.

My council tax, as a widow with a pension of £68 per week, is more than £1,000 a year, less 25 per cent -- that's for a two-bedroom cottage in a village, valued at Band D.

What is infuriating is the amount of arrears outstanding, with little apparent success in tracing those who owe council tax. In every council office, there ought to be a list of those who owe council tax.

My son in the Oxford area pays less than I do -- for a four-bedroom detached house with a garage and I have yet to see any Labour MPs from this area come forward with any system to make council tax fairer throughout the country, because we certainly pay through the nose in the North West compared with those in more affluent areas.

Some councillors are to have the cabinet form of local government, so do we need three-member wards? Do we need still more expenses heaped upon those already paid to members of local government?

Let our MPs come up with a plan to cut council tax. Let every ward be a one-member ward, with three-member wards in urban areas and one-member wards in rural areas.

Do a bit of homework, Councillor O'Kane -- forget the party line and take an independent look at council finances, you might get a big surprise.

M FLETCHER, Higham Hall Road, Higham, Burnley.