Pensioners warned over council tax protests

Councils are set for a stand-off with pensioners as growing numbers pledge non payment of their council tax in protest at this year's increases.

The decision is the most dramatic action to date by pensioners remonstrating against what they say is a regressive system which unfairly hits those on low and fixed incomes.

The move harks back to the concerted non-payments of the poll tax in the early 90s, which saw many end up in jail, before the system was abolished and replaced by the property-based council tax.

The latest threat of non-payment is part of an orchestrated campaign of pensioner revolt against recent council tax rises, which was boosted by a march to Downing Street at the weekend.

Local protest groups from around the country turned up at Trafalgar Square to hear speakers and deliver a 25,000-signature petition to Downing Street, calling for a fairer tax for those on fixed incomes.

Christine Melsom, a retired Hampshire resident and lead organiser of the Is It Fair? umbrella campaign group, said many will resist paying their council taxes this month, to level out the high charge they have paid each month as a result of significant increases posted this year. Others plan to refuse to pay the full amount charged from this April, either by restricting their contribution to inflation-based increases, or by refusing to pay any further increases at all.

Mrs Melsom hopes to ride on the momentum generated last week by organising rallies to descend on areas where local protest groups are making deputations to their local councils as budgets are being finalised for the next financial year.

"I think that is what has to happen," she said. "We have to show some kind of solidarity of this. We now know what we did in London can work because we have had huge amounts of feedback. The only way these people are going to win this is by numbers. A lot of people are not going to pay their January bill. A lot of people are saying, 'in April I am not paying more than inflation or I am not going to pay any more at all'."

Welsh communities are also showing an interest in joining the campaign following the recent re-evaluation of properties, according to Mrs Melsum. "Wales is beginning to wake up to this", she said. "They had not had huge council tax rises but it looks as though it is going to start very soon."

The representative council body, the Local Government Association, warned pensioners against non-payment.

An LGA spokesman expressed sympathy with pensioners' plight over council tax payments, but warned that failure to pay their bills could lead to prosecution. "Anyone thinking this is an easy campaign route to go down, it is not," he said. "Every council has a clear duty to collect the council tax according to pretty clearly defined regulations and enforcement measures. No one will be treated differently. The only reason why councils are flexible is to do with genuine hardship, and that is what the benefit system is there for."

But Devon pensioner Albert Venison, widely seen as the father of the council tax revolt, said his local authority had yet to respond to his refusal to pay his council tax in full, in protest at last year's 18% increase.

Mr Venison has refused to pay the full increase for several months. "My honest opinion is that petitions are a waste of time," he said. "That is why we should take direct action. We won't pay the full increase. Whatever happens in April of this year we are not going to pay. The council has done nothing so far."

A Devon county council spokesman said district authorities, which are responsible for collecting council tax revenue, have so far reported fews signs that other pensioners are copying Mr Venison. "It does not appear to be a major problem," the spokesman said. "But people may choose not to pay their final month contribution, and district councils are being cautious about that."