Analysis of the Council Tax figures has shown that Conservative Councils charge an average Council Tax of £1,144. For Labour it is £1,161 and the Lib Dems £1,231. This is based on Band D Council Tax. A CCHQ press release states (our emphasis):
"In 2009-10, Conservative councils charge £87 a year less on Band D bills than Liberal Democrat councils and £18 a year less than Labour councils in England (and £34 a year less than Labour in shire areas, which have elections this June). This is despite the Government fiddling the funding formula over a number of years to subsidise inefficient Labour councils."
Labour response has been thoroughly dishonest. They claim to have lower Council Tax lower by £204 on average based on the "average Council Tax per dwelling." No reputable authority would accept that as a valid measure because you have huge fluctuations in property prices between different authorities. The Band D is the like for like comparison.
Were Labour to justify setting a high Council Tax as the right decision one could disagree with them. But at least it would be honest. Their attempts to deny setting higher Council Tax smacks of desperation.
Isn't it also interesting how much higher still the Council Tax set by the Lib Dems is? Does this indicate that the Lib Dems are typically to the Left of Labour at local level?
