Labour haven't binned rubbish tax plans... they'll return after polling day

The Daily Mail reports documents uncovered by the Conservatives that show that ministers HAVE NOT shelved plans to introduce taxes on household waste but that these taxes could be introduced for 62% of households once tomorrow's elections are over.

Speaking to The Daily Mail, Eric Pickles MP said:

"Ministers know that bin taxes will cause a massive public backlash. Yet, just as with cuts to weekly rubbish collections, they are telling town halls to keep quiet until after elections. The public have a right to know if their town hall is going to increase taxes on them after election day. Labour ministers are deliberately conspiring with a cadre of town hall bureaucrats to keep the public, candidates and councillors in the dark."

Families will be hardest hit by these plans and although the initial annual estimate of the tax was £30, ministers have now admitted that the charge is likelier to be £50.  The Daily Mail suggests that the cost could actually be £100.

Related ConservativeHome link: How council tax has outpaced inflation under Labour and how other local stealth taxes have rocketed

Comments

[angela mayer]

the only service that many households receive for the payment of their council tax (100% rise in 10 years of Labour misrule) is the weekly, or in some cases fortnightly) collection of rubbish. To tax this, without a commensurate reduction in council tax, would be theft.

[Phil]

In theory I don't have a problem with paying for my rubbish to be collected, I'm a single person living on my own, and I recycle just about everything that can be, so I think it would be reasonable to charge me less than a family of 4 that can't be bothered to recycle. It surely can't be considered anti-Conservative to introduce an economic incentive for people to cut down on imposing a cost on society (ie waste disposal).

However, in practice this is of course going to be an extra tax on top of Council Tax and should probably be opposed on that basis.

[Alan.S]

In theory I already pay for my rubbish to be collected as this is one of the Council services that is included in the extortionate Council tax that I will have to pay this year.
The only fair way to introduce a 'rubbish' tax is to deduct it from my Council tax in the same year that they add the rubbish tax. This will introduce the rubbish tax with a visible zero tax increase for that year. Unfortunately I am sure that in future years we will have to suffer increases in both of these taxes.
Maybe I should just emigrate again to get away from high Labour taxes as I did in 1975