Call to scrap council tax

Thousands of people will call for the council tax to be scrapped on a march through central London on Saturday October 2.

The march, which is being organised by the non-party political group, Is it Fair? aims to top its previous rally in January during which it handed in a 45,000 signature petition calling for the tax to be replaced.

Is it fair? heads a coalition of groups, many of them representing pensioners, that have sprung up to fight what they claim are the "inequities" of the council tax.

In May, the group appeared before a parliamentary select committee to propose the tax is replaced by an increase in VAT and income tax.

The group says that VAT should be raised from 17.5% to 19%, and income tax should be raised by between 2% and 4%.

Rising property prices are threatening to make the council tax as unpopular as the Poll Tax it replaced.

Several pensioners have been taken to court for non-payment. The rally starts at 12 noon - for details go to: isitfair.co.uk