Mike Weatherley welcomes proposals to ease burden of council tax on older people in Brighton and Hove

Mike Weatherley, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Pavilion has welcomed new proposals to ease the burden of council tax on older people in Brighton and Hove. Under the plans, the next Conservative Government will introduce an automatic 50% discount on council tax bills for those aged 65 and over, up a maximum of £500. A discount already operates for single person households and the disabled.

Since 1997, council tax bills in the city for a typical pensioner have risen by 94% – equivalent to 10 times the rate of inflation, with further rises expected this year and in any Labour third term.

The proposed tax cut will reduce the yearly council tax bills for up to 5210 single pensioners and 2268 pensioner couples aged 65 and over across Brighton Pavilion, by £436 and £500 respectively on Band D bills. The tax cut will not be means-tested and will be on top of existing discounts. It will be financed by extra government grant for Brighton and Hove, so no group will be forced to pay higher taxes to finance the rebate.

Conservatives have also announced their intention to block Government plans for new higher council tax bands and a rigged council tax revaluation, which would mean soaring bills for many households. Local councils will also receive a fully funded deal from central government, backed up with fewer burdens, targets, inspection regimes and red tape to keep council tax bills down for everyone.

“Today pensioners are not shown the respect they deserve. Remember the 75 pence increase in the basic state pension - that tells you all you need to know about Mr Blair’s values. Labour have forced nearly half of all pensioners onto means testing – it’s wrong, it’s humiliating, it’s complicated. Pensioners should not have to go cap in hand to the state for what they are due.

“The older generation who live on fixed incomes have been particularly hard hit hard by Mr Blair’s most punishing stealth tax – the council tax. This is why Conservatives are pledging to fund a council tax cut for older people across Pavilion, and block Labour’s plans for third term tax rises.

“And as for the Liberal Democrats, they would simply increase the pain on working families. Under their plans, a typical family would pay £630 a year more. I don’t think pensioners want to see their children and grand-children paying more. Pensioners simply want a fair deal, rather than robbing ‘Peter to pay Paul’.

“People will face a clear choice at the forthcoming election: Conservatives who will give pensioners dignity, security and respect by increasing the state pension and cutting their council tax or Mr Blair, who will forget them and raise their council tax.”

The two tables below illustrate the typical council tax cut by local authority, and the number of pensioners in each Parliamentary constituency who will benefit.

The table below shows the bills issued by each billing authority (including all precepts) and the change since 1997, in % terms and the amount compared to CPI inflation. The final two rows illustrate how Conservatives’ new policies would reduce the bill of a typical single pensioner and a typical pensioner couple.

Final bill	1997-98 Band D	2004-05 Band D	Change since 97: %	Change since 97: times inflation	Single discount	Couple discount

England	£689	£1,167	69%	7 x inflation	£438	£500

East Midlands	£705	£1,198	70%	7	£449	£500
East of England	£639	£1,186	86%	9	£445	£500
London	£651	£1,119	72%	8	£420	£500
North East	£782	£1,229	57%	6	£461	£500
North West	£798	£1,187	49%	5	£445	£500
South East	£641	£1,169	82%	9	£438	£500
South West	£667	£1,186	78%	8	£445	£500
West Midlands	£701	£1,151	64%	7	£432	£500
Yorkshire & the Humber	£710	£1,132	59%	6	£425	£500

Brighton & Hove	£599	£1,162	94%	10	£436	£500

Base council tax figures from DoE press release, 20 March 1997 and ODPM press release, 25 March 2004.

The table below illustrates the number of pensioners in each Parliamentary constituency who could benefit (although does not take into account the numbers on 100% council tax benefit).

Source: Office of National Statistics / 2001 Census, from Hansard, 21 February 2005, col. 74WA.

Parliamentary constituency	Single households, with person aged 65 and over	Households with 2 people or more, aged 65 or over
Brighton; Kemptown	6,233	3,093
Brighton; Pavilion	5,210	2,268
Hove	6,897	2,846