Raedwald

Why cutting Council tax is a doddle for the Conservatives

Apologies to Conservative councillors who already know all of this, but I think it's worth a mini-post for anyone who doesn't. The Times reports today on tax-cutting efforts by Conservative councils, in particular the results achieved by Hammersmith and Fulham. It's not rocket science.

Only 20% of a Council's income is raised through Council Tax; around 80% comes from central government through a fixed grant. This 'gearing' discourages high spending by Councils (though that was not why it was implemented). If a Council wants to raise overall spending by 10%, it will need to raise Council Tax by 50%.

Conversely, to give local citizens a 50% cut in Council Tax means only a 10% cut in total spending.

Around 85% of a Council's costs are staff. Given even low levels of churn in local government, a freeze on recruitment for a year for all except statutory qualification jobs (teachers, social workers) will mean all the non-jobs start to disappear as staff are shuffled about to fill functions the public cares about; race advisors find themselves supervising street sweeping, press officers inspect faulty street lights, obesity outreach workers manage grass-cutting teams in the local parks. All achieved without a single redundancy payment or closing a single community centre. A doddle.

That's why ALL local councils should be run by the Conservatives.