Agenda item

Can the Portfolio Holder provide a year-by-year breakdown of Council tax increases for hardworking Rochester West taxpayers; including the percentage increase, Band D charge and the political control of the Council at the time of the increase since 2002/2003.

“Can the Portfolio Holder provide a year-by-year breakdown of Council tax increases for hardworking Rochester West taxpayers; including the percentage increase, Band D charge and the political control of the Council at the time of the increase since 2002/2003.”

Councillor Turpin thanked Councillor Osborne for his question. He tabled the information requested in the question and provided a commentary. He stated that in addition to the political control of Medway, he had also provided details of the national government control because when setting Council Tax the Council had been set limits by national governments or given inducements to keep the rise of Council Tax low.

In summary, the top ten years of the highest increases in Council Tax included 8 years where a Labour Government was in power. This year was the seventh highest increase of Council Tax and the five years before this had been the lowest rises. It could be quite clearly seen that Council Tax had risen more when there had been a Labour government.

He stated that Chris Williamson had been sacked from Labour’s front bench recently after he called for Council Tax to rise by 100% and Conservative Party Deputy Chairman James Cleverly had said that he had been fired by Labour for letting the cat out of the bag. He stated that a lot of people thought that the Labour Party, if they did get in to power would be using Council Tax as a cash cow. This was a word of warning for people that might be thinking of voting for Labour. He concluded by stating that Labour Governments always lead to more debt, higher tax and fewer jobs.

Table: