A Bristol City Council consultation on whether low income households should be forced to pay council tax may be illegal, the Green Party claims.
Launched last month, the survey asks whether the authority should scrap a council tax exemption clause and start charging some of the poorest households in the city between 50 and 25 per cent of the full amount of council tax for their properties.
Currently people who aren’t in work or do not earn above a minimum threshold – based on income and benefit allowances – do not have to pay council tax.
The council is asking the public to choose between three options in its consultation which would produce savings of between £1.3 and £4.2million a year after initial set-up costs. Pensioners will not be affected by any changes.
However, the Green Party claim the consolation may not be legal as the council has failed to include a ‘no cuts’ option which would allow residents to say they believe the current exemptions should be maintained.
The group says it has consulted a lawyer who pointed to a ruling by the Supreme Court in 2014 which found that Haringey Council’s consultation on council tax reduction was illegal for the same reason.
And several other councils have also fallen foul of the law with their consultations, including Solihull, who ended up having to re-run their public survey.
Green councillors now want Bristol Mayor, Marvin Rees, to halt the current survey and launch a new one in its place.
Clifton Down councillor Carla Denyer said: “At the very least the Mayor must re-draw the consultation to give Bristolians a real choice and allow them to protect the poorest in the city from these cruel cuts.”
The party is also opposed to the cuts which it describes as “causing a huge amount of pain for the poorest Bristolians” for little financial gain.
Green Party leader, Eleanor Combley, said: “The Council’s guide to the consultation presented ‘net’ savings which didn’t take into account increased costs from administration or enforcement, or provide any estimate of the increased costs to other council services which would be a likely knock-on effect of the cuts – for example, greater pressure on mental health services and increased homelessness.
“So as well as causing a huge amount of pain for the poorest Bristolians the cuts could generate very little financial gain. Camden Council recently reinstated its full council tax support largely for this reason.”
The Green Party’s plea comes just a day after housing charity Acorn launched a petition to stop the consultation for fear that it would cause vulnerable Bristolians stress, malnutrition and homelessness.
Article originally appeared on Bristol Post
