§ 8. Mr. Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam)What estimate he has made of the cost to local authorities of administration of (a) council tax and (b) council tax benefit in 2002–03. [125866]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Phil Hope)In 2002–03, council tax benefit administration costs in England totalled £205 million. Council tax collection costs totalled £318 million and have been decreasing in both absolute and real terms since council tax was introduced.
§ Mr. BurstowI thank the Minister for that answer. Given the huge increase in council tax in the current year and the costs of collection and administration that he describes, will the Department's balance of funding review consider not only the balance of funding, but the abolition of the council tax and its replacement with a fairer form of taxation such as local income tax?
§ Phil HopeAs I said, council tax collection costs have gone down. We have all seen in the press the latest uncosted, ill-thought-through, back-of-a-fag-packet proposals of the Liberal Democrats, with a local income tax of 3p in the pound and a huge bureaucracy dumped on local government. We have devolved powers to Scotland, Wales, London and the English regions, and we have given a fairer deal to the council tax payer.