Date published: 2008/09/29
The BBC says:
A Conservative government would bring in a two-year freeze on English council tax bills, George Osborne has pledged.
The shadow chancellor told the party's conference in Birmingham it would be paid for by cutting spending on government consultants and advertising.
Central government cannot force bills to be frozen - but any council which limits spending rises to 2.5% will get that amount from Whitehall, he said.
Mr Osborne said the move would save the average Band D household £210.
He said he expected all English councils to want to take part and estimated that it would cost £500m in the first year and £1bn in the second.
Another gimmick from the Tories. Needless to say, given the way the government will settle the central government contribution to the council tax, the councils that limit their spending rise to 2.5% will mainly be in Tory areas, and those that do not will mainly be in non-Tory areas. So this plan will result in a transfer of hundreds of millions of pounds from relativly poor areas of England to relatively rich ones. Surprise, this is just what Thatcher did with the poll tax. If the Tories claim they have 210 pounds per household to throw at the public, they should throw it at all the public, not just the rich.
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