Axe The Tax

David Heath is welcoming the Audit Commission's Report into Council Tax . The report states that there are "fundamental flaws" in the way Whitehall shares out money, and this directly contributed to this year's record council tax rises. This damning report comes despite the government hailing a record 5.9% increase in grants.

The commission's report says there was a direct link between higher council tax rises and areas which did worse out of the way Whitehall redistributed cash. The south received lower grant increases and suffered from higher average council tax increases. But councils in the Midlands and the North who received higher grants had lower tax increases.

The Audit Commission report also says the government and regulators have put unusual costs on local councils, which included the government's increase in National Insurance contributions, the need to meet national targets in education as well as local priorities of social services and highways.