Average council tax bill set to rise by £107 after government raises cap
Councils have been given the green light to hike taxes by six per cent next year - without holding a local referendum to ask the public their thoughts
COUNCILS will be able to raise council taxes by an average of more than £100 next year - the biggest rise for 14 years.
Local authorities will be given the powers to hike taxes by an extra one per cent, making a total rise of six per cent.
Currently they can only out up council tax by two per cent thanks to a Government cap, but now that will rise to three per cent.
And another three per cent can also be charged to pay for social care as of this year, taking more of Brits' hard-earned cash.
The changes, announced today by Sajid Javid, mean that an average Band D property will see their council tax rise to £1,686.
Mr Javid said: "This settlement strikes a balance between those two aims, giving councils the ability to increase their core council tax requirement by an additional 1 per cent without a local referendum - bringing the core principle in line with inflation.
"This change, combined with the additional flexibility on the adult social care precept that I confirmed last year, gives local authorities the independence they need to help relieve pressure on local services."
He also revealed that Police and Crime Commissioners are to be able to whack on more tax to help generate £450million for the forces,
How YOU could be in line for a huge council tax discount of up to 100 per cent
London Mayor Sadiq Khan this afternoon became the first local leader to confirm he is likely to hike the tax by the full amount possible.
Mr Javid insisted today that billions was being pumped into social care and councils - as MPs warned the council tax rise still wouldn't be enough to fund local shortfalls.
Clive Betts said the proposals unveiled by ministers would raise £250 million next year, while the Local Government Association believes councils need an extra £2 billion to meet care costs.
The decision was met with outrage from MPs and campaigners.
Shadow Communities Secretary Andrew Gwynne said: "This Secretary of State has today presented himself as Santa but the details of this announcement really shows him to be the Grinch."
"We are still without a sustainable plan, a vision for how the sector will be funded in future."
Hiking in the Dales
By Lynn Davidson
OWNERS of 1,500 second homes in the Yorkshire Dales could see their council tax increase five-fold.
Members of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority want to “halt and then reverse” the decline in the number of young people in the region.
Raising the cap with wages stagnating and inflation on the rise "beggars belief", the Taxpayers' Alliance said.
Chief Executive John O’Connell stormed: "Council tax has already nearly doubled in the last decade so it isn't fair to ask residents to plug the gaps in their finances, especially when we know that council tax already hits the poorest hardest."
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He went on: "Councils should instead continue to root out waste and scrap any item of spending that does not help provide an essential service."
And he warned against giving Police and Crime Commissioners the powers to raise funds for police budgets to meet "local demand".
A spokesman for PM Theresa May said: “Decisions on increases are for local councils.”