Council soars up council tax and business rate debt table with £6.2m unpaid bills
THE port rates fiasco has sent North East Lincolnshire soaring up the council tax and business rates debt table.
The borough is owed more than £6-million in unpaid debts, ranking 7th out of the 21 councils in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
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North East Lincolnshire Council leader, Councillor Andrew De Freitas says the backdated port rates row has affected the rate of unpaid bills.
This year £1.2 million is owed in council tax and £5.2 million is owed in business rates - just over £3.5 million of that by port-based businesses.
As reported, many of them had been facing bills reaching millions of pounds after an unexpected rate revaluation in 2008.
The controversial bills were then backdated to 2005 and left many facing insolvency.
Traditionally, port operators paid a rent to landlord Associated British Ports (ABP), which then paid a sum to the Treasury to cover business rates.
However, in 2008, the Government's Valuation Office Agency (VOA) changed the system so firms had to pay a rate based on the size of their premises and backdated the tax to April 2005.
The figures for this year's council tax and business rate debts were released by North East Lincolnshire Council as union group, GMB called for a nationwide review into unpaid tax collection.
Read more, plus reaction, in today's Grimsby Telegraph.
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by Joshua Goldblum, great coates
Saturday, July 24 2010, 9:41AM
“6.4 million in unpaid council tax.
Oh dear the amount, 7 million, the council "gave away" to the Icelandic banks will just about pay for it.
And heare's me thinking I paid my rates so the council could clean the streets, empty my bins, supply the goodies we require to live in a decent neighbourhood. Just shows how wrong I can be?”
by The Devil's Advocate, Hades
Friday, July 23 2010, 1:38PM
“Poppy - I was with you until your very last paragraph. That really is a silly suggestion, although I do appreciate your sentiments.
Council Tax is a very unfair tax as it does not take into account a person's ability to pay. As you so rightly suggest, until such a time as there is an alternative, we have to endure.
Local taxes are a necessary evil, but there ought to be a fairer way to collect them........I don't know how though.
What is infuriating is the total lack of flexibility associated with the payment itself.”
by Poppy, cleethorpes
Friday, July 23 2010, 1:18PM
“It is no use arguing about the council tax, all of us will have to pay it at some point. I work 40 hours a week and I am on a very low wage (but I have a job, which I might add are like gold dust nowadays) I don't get any help at all so out of my wages (which are paid monthly) I am lucky to have £80 left, this calculates to £20 per week without the food bill on top. The council sent me a letter to say I owed an extra £28 on my bill and if I didn't pay on a certain date this month then I would be summoned to pay court costs etc.
Yes there are a lot of people out there who choose not to work because they get their bills paid for which is unfair on the genuine people who can not go out to work, but they ALL get painted with the same brush each and everytime something like this comes to light. The government is to blame for allowing this to happen, its not rocket science in how to deal with.
There will come a day when the government will employ a very bright spark with ideas to stop all this wasted money slipping through their hands every single day and until that day then we have to carry on.
I know, why don't the governemnt ask all the pop/film stars and the footballers to give up 1 month of their wages, and then we would be out of the resession.”
by The Devil's Advocate, Hades
Friday, July 23 2010, 10:04AM
“You probably class it as another "victimless crime".”
by josephine white, Grimsby
Friday, July 23 2010, 9:10AM
“'crazy' wrote: "Council tax take you to court for missing one payment, no other company would do this".
I hold no brief for the Council especially the Council Tax 'recovery' department - but I don't think this is strictly true.
I know, because it happened to me a couple of years ago when I was late making a monthly payment. True, they did threaten that all sorts of doom and thunder would descend upon my head if I didn't pay up, but all I had to do was to agree to pay an adjusted amount each month in order to clear the debt.
It's only really persistent offenders who ever end up in court. Even so, personally I still believe that even *that* is morally wrong because I don't think anyone should ever be sent to prison for owing money to The State.”