Council tax benefit changes will hit poorest hardest says charity leader (From Haringey Independent)
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Council tax benefit changes will hit poorest hardest says charity leader
4:33pm Tuesday 30th October 2012 in News By Bruce Thain
Reverend Paul Nicolson from Taxpayers Against Poverty
A charity leader says proposals to replace council tax benefit will hit the poorest people in the borough hardest.
Reverend Paul Nicolson, from the group Taxpayers Against Poverty, has raised concerns about the proposed changes to council tax benefit which are due to come into force next year.
The Government is abolishing the current Council Tax Benefit from April 1 next year and authority’s being given control of benefits, with Haringey Borough Council’s being called the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.
The Treasury is cutting council tax benefit funding by ten per cent, which is hoped it will save approximately £500million per year.
Mr Nicolson, of Campbell Road, Tottenham, said: “To force the payment of council tax on those who are already far below the poverty line will be catastrophic.
“For a lot of people, who are already under huge financial pressure, they simply will not be able to pay their council tax.
“It is a gross injustice to tax people that are already severely poor. I don’t think the council should not do this and they should tell the government they cannot do it.
“There has been an increase in the number of people using the borough’s food banks and people and families will be put under more strain with the changes.”
Currently 25,560 households in the Borough receive complete support of 100 per cent Council Tax Benefit, meaning they don't pay anything towards their Council Tax bill.
Under the plans every household of working age would have to pay something towards their Council Tax bill.
The council plans to apply the Government cut to council tax funds as fairly as possible so those who currently receive 100 per cent Council Tax Benefit, will have to pay 20 per cent of their full council tax bill under the new proposals.
Under the proposals pensioners who receive council tax will receive the same level of support.
The council is currently running a consultation about the changes to council tax benefits and those interested in giving their view can do so by visiting the Haringey Council website.
Comments(6)
Craig Brown
says...
9:59am Wed 31 Oct 12
JaneCh
says...
10:38am Wed 31 Oct 12
You also know in the back of your mind that all the brutal benefit changes mean that the vast majority of the working class community will never vote for the Lib Dems ever again. (if they ever did)
Seema Chandwani
says...
11:06pm Wed 31 Oct 12
Seema Chandwani
says...
11:36pm Wed 31 Oct 12
1). There is no tree in the back garden of the Civic Centre shooting out £50 notes.
2). Clegg & Cameron have not sold one of their mansions & donated £6m to the good people of Haringey.
3). £86m has been cut (robbed) from the councils budget by a Government your party is upholding in power.
4). The abolishing of the Council Tax Benefit scheme has cut a further £5.7m from the budget for next year & each year after this.
5). This is not a budget led policy, it is an ideological policy the Tories have pushed for decades to ensure everyone pays something in society.
6). This policy is affecting 36,000 people in our borough alone, people who have already been means tested to be poor & vulnerable
7). This is in addition to other cuts being pushed in the name of 'Welfare Reforms' which is seeing some families (most of whom work) lose about £150-200 avg a week from their budgets, these people have kids!!!
8). Even if the Council decide to stop Marketing, thats £2m - where is the other £4m coming from? What about next year? What should they stop/sell/shut down?
9). In addition to losing £86m + £5.7m a year from Council Tax is the increase demands & costs as your party causes havoc to peoples lives & more people are relying on council services.
I dont mind you holding this council to account, that is democracy & its one of my hobbies too! But, do it with integrity & admit that this is an absolute vile attack on the residents of the borough by a central Tory/Lib Dem government & not by local politicians.
Rev Paul Nicolson
says...
9:54am Sat 3 Nov 12
Councils with a relatively small number of council tax benefit claimants and a high proportion of expensive homes like Westminster, Tower Hamlets and West Oxfordshire can lose the 10% cut in their budgets and continue to pay 100% council tax benefit.
But councils like Haringey with a very high number of council tax benefit claimants have a choice between cutting services even further than they have had to be cut ready or taxing their poorest citizens.
The problem is that very many of 25,560 poorest households who pay no tax now will not be able to pay the 20% of the council tax Haringey intends to charge them from April 2013. That will hit the lowest incomes on top of the cut due to the move from RPI to CPI on top of the DWP's other cuts, caps and sanctions, which stop incomes from 2 weeks to six months. .
The council is then obliged to apply for a liability order from the magistrates which adds around £70 to the arrears, and the bailiffs are sent in adding a up to a further £400.
That is an impending disaster for all of us Haringey residents.
Meanwhile £21 trillion dollars is parked in overseas tax free accounts. The malignant effect of extreme wealth in other boroughs of the UK impacts on the poorest of Haringey and other poor Boroughs.
Robert Wilson says...
1:44am Wed 31 Oct 12
The council are doing very little to inform residents what is going on and if it were not for these two ladies my father would have been none the wiser.