Council Tax hike at Mid Suffolk?

I am disturbed to read today that Mid Suffolk District Council is considering increasing Council Tax for the next financial year.

The reason that they wish to do this is not clear. The press release speaks of wanting to spend the money raised by the increase on ‘initiatives that will make a significant positive impact upon our communities’.   I view this with great suspicion.  In my view money is best left in people’s pockets to spend as they wish.  There is plenty of evidence that money spent by councils, and indeed by government generally,  is not money efficiently spent.

Were it necessary to raise money to protect frontline services that would be another matter, but I do not like the idea of picking the public’s pockets to fund unspecified ‘initiatives’.  I hope that Babergh is not going to do the same.  I for one would only vote for a tax increase if there were a real threat to front line services.

Suffolk County Council has already committed itself to a council tax freeze for four years.  In this we are listening to the public. On his blog today Colin Noble, the Cabinet Member for Finance quotes polling results that show that, were there to be more money in the system, people would want to see 1. A cut in Income Tax; 2. A cut in VAT and 3. A cut in Council Tax.

‘So’  Colin says ‘our promise and focus on protecting people's hard earned money by not putting up the Council Tax remains a clear priority as we balance what we have to spend on services and what we have to save.’