Playing for time

FROM a short-term perspective, the decision to postpone the revaluation of council tax bands is politically advantageous to the coalition Government. At a time of tax rises and public sector job losses, it avoids the electorally damaging prospects of many households being asked to pay an extra £300 a year for the privilege of a diminished service.

Yet it is the type of approach that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats derided when in opposition, even more so after the last Labour government called off a planned revaluation in England three years ago once the full financial, and political, implications of this review in Wales became clear. The Government cannot have it both ways.

Plain-speaking Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, a one-time leader of Bradford Council, defended the decision to put off any decision until after the election by claiming that the current bands, put in place in 1991 when the poll tax was abolished, were still fair, despite the marked changes to property prices over the past two decades.

However, Mr Pickles failed to acknowledge that the council tax is particularly penal to those on fixed incomes, like senior citizens, and that there needs to be greater transparency between the amount that households pay, and the services they receive.

In short, doing nothing is not a sustainable policy position for the longer-term, despite the coalition's welcome moves to limit future council tax rises during these testing times.