Millions of UK households living in parish council areas have been issued a warning around a “local stealth tax”. A recent exposé revealed that council tax in some areas has been increased by over 300% due to funding pressures in local government.
There are around 9,000 parish and town councils, home around 21 million people, across England. They cover around 91% of the land but only 36% of the population.
As reported by Birmingham Live, 11 parishes increased their council tax precepts by over 300% in April. In Waverley, South Yorkshire, it surged from £63.47 to £288.46 a year.
Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Parish precepts are set to be just the latest stealth tax squeezing household budgets, if funding pressures in local government continue.
“Most town councils are uncontroversial bodies, operating important amenities for what is a small charge on top of council tax bills.
“But more and more, we are seeing local taxpayers hit by extraordinary hikes in what they’re charging, on top of increases at the other levels of local government.
“The Government should be consulting on a referendum cap to be placed on parish precept rises to ensure residents aren’t hit by surprise bills which they had no say on.”
Meanwhile, shadow communities secretary Kevin Hollinrake added: “The Labour Government is forcing up council tax across the board through their fiddled funding. Parish councils have had no compensation at all from Rachel Reeves’s job tax, leading to a double whammy of soaring council tax on top.
“Labour’s flawed plans for top-down unitary restructuring also threaten to lead to cost shunting from the old councils down to parish level, cooked up in Whitehall but with town and parish councils to take the blame.”
The warning comes as council tax continues to surge for UK households. A spokesman for the Wharton parish council said its increase was so high because of an administrative error the year before.