Clever George

Another council tax freeze ?

Its certainly good politics when your defending a large local government presence. No chance of the Lib Dems getting any credit as they always argue for wasting more of other peoples money. The more local councillors you have, the better your national camapigns go at general election time.

Yes clever George.

"Labour MPs were slow to catch on..." - the Mole

Apparently more small print has exposed the "Ford Mondeo Tax" ... which Labour MPs have been slow to catch on to. Must be all that First Class travel and taxi's they enjoy.

This is going to be trouble. ( See The First Post's Mole here ).

Council tax to support Surrey police up by 9.7% !!!!!

Let me share with you what just dropped through my door yesterday to explain the staggering 9.7% increase in the council tax element that support our local police.

Its pretty frank and blames Labour squarely.

Putting the Surrey public first

Surrey receives one of the lowest Government grants per person for policing due to an unfair funding formula. If our grant was at the average rate of other forces around London (£106 per person) Surrey would receive an additional £18.2 million.

The formula takes no account of the challenges we face from criminals coming into the county from elsewhere. Fifty nine per cent of identified organised crime gangs affecting Surrey are engaged in drugs supply and originate from London, while 47 per cent of burglary and vehicle crime offenders come from outside Surrey, more than half of these from London. The funding formula also takes no account of our need to invest more in counter-terrorism policing.

In addition, our policing activity is often driven by Government targets rather than by local needs, taking away officers' ability to use their own professional judgement to do what is best for their local communities.

Surrey still has one of the lowest crime rates in England but we are concerned that poor funding will reduce effective policing. We have lobbied the Government and made our funding difficulties very clear to the Home Office, but without success. .

To try to address the funding gap, we have made efficiency savings of £50m in the past nine years; we are reducing our policing divisions from four to three and reviewing our support departments to make further savings.

Even with this programme, we still face a deficit of £3.1 million next year.

We are therefore asking Surrey residents to increase, above Government expectations, the amount they contribute towards policing this year to help minimise any reduction in services. This is part of a three-year strategy and we anticipate we will not be asking the people of Surrey to increase their contribution at the same level in forthcoming years.

The Council Tax set for 2008/09 will enable us to:

• Maintain our investment in neighbourhood policing

• Develop Operation Shield - the creation of a protective 'shield' around Surrey by using intelligence and other policing resources to help prevent cross-border crime, particularly from London

• Invest in counter-terrorism - improving our ability to respond to a terrorist incident.

Because we recognise that Surrey residents already contribute nearly 50 per cent of the policing budget - compared to the national average of 22 per cent - we are also introducing 'Surrey Public First', an initiative designed to step outside some of the national bureaucracy and give officers the discretion to do what is best for the public of Surrey.

Keeping people safe and confident in their neighbourhoods remains our top priority.

Surrey Police Authority is legally required to produce this information under The Council Tax and Non-Domestic Rating (Demand Notices) (England) Regulations 2003 - SI 2003/2613.

How about raising income tax ?

Now that might not seem the expect line from a somewhat right of centre blogger, however there is method in my madness, let me explain:

Gordon Brown has steathly increases the tax take from all of us, doing everything he can think of increase taxation without us realising it. He has stolen from our old age by increasing tax on our pensions ( and in passing reduced the value of the stock market causing negative feedback for pensioners - you can argue about how stocks should be valued, but this does seem to be an effect ). He has raised national insurance levels ( another name for income tax ). And most crippling of all council tax has increase by a staggering 50% - especially in areas that : Labour wish to tax disproportionately to punish them for being English or not voting Labour. And don't forget the anti South-East stamp duty rises.

All this deception has created deep problems in our society. The most obvious the damaged pensions and pensioners and the less obvious of making some voters think they can get something for nothing. Gordon Brown has picked our pockets without our noticing, but one day we'll wonder why the money is not there .

Hence George Osbourne should reverse as many of Gordon Brown's stealth tax rises as possible and increase income tax to cover the loss. I think the public would understand that this was a fairer and more honest thing to do. It would also expose Labour's deception that it has carried out over ten years.

There would then be wide spread support for reducing the size of the state - once people fully appreciate the cost of it.

Remember Mrs T raised income tax when she had to, to get the country out of the financial mess the last Labour government created.

Good performance from Hammersmith and Fulham council

Blog recommendation for today is Mark Loveday on Conservative home - looks like something to be proud of.

The dishonesty of New Labour laid bare

Here we go again. Gordon, who thinks your bank account is really his election fund, is apparently going to shift the burden of his next vast wasting of your cash on unreformed public services by getting the money via Council tax - as today's Telegraph reports. Up to £200 over the next few years. He lacks the honesty of raising income tax - he must have been sleeping though any of his father's sermons on honesty.

The DT quotes the leader of Surrey CC as saying:

Nick Skellett, the leader of Surrey county council said: "It is an appalling and dishonest strategy to keep income tax at fixed levels and raise huge sums through council tax."

Of course Gordon will chuckle that it will be Conservative and Lib Dem councils that will get the blame for what he has done.

Council tax is now at levels that can't be sustained and is in effect becoming a form of wealth tax. If you have something - Gordon wants it. Just saying you paid for it, and where highly taxed on those earnings, is no justification to shameless sly socialists like Gordon Brown.

Its immoral,
its deceitful,
its vindictive,
its Gordon Brown and New Labour.