Richard Wilson, senior policy officer at Help the Aged said: "Whilst ministers prevaricate over how to reform council tax in the long term, pensioners are being forced into poverty by tax bills they cannot afford.
"The government’s own figures show the poorest pensioners pay £770 million too much council tax a year, because the rebates they are owed never reach them.
"The government needs to act swiftly to ensure Council Tax Benefit reaches the hard-pressed pensioners who need it most. Much more could be done to identify the 1.7 million pensioners who are entitled to reductions in their bills, but don’t yet receive them.
"Help the Aged welcomes many of the proposals that are discussed in the report. The charity would urge the government to ensure any new council tax system is fairer and more related to people’s actual ability to pay rather than the value of the property they live in."
Stakeholder Response: Local Government Information Unit
Dennis Reed, LGIU chief executive, said: "Launching another inquiry, on top of the existing balance of funding review that has been proceeding for over a year already, to go over all the same ground yet again seems to be designed to kick controversial decisions into the long grass for another 18 months.
"The interim conclusions that the council tax needs to be reformed and that a greater share of council revenue should be raised locally are both welcome, but it is not much to show for more than a year of deliberation.
"The status quo is unsustainable. Despite all the alarming headlines about the changes to the council tax that ministers may or may not support, the real nightmare scenario would be failing to reform the council tax and the wider local government finance system in good time before the forthcoming property revaluation takes effect in 2007.
"As matters stand, without reform this revaluation would move millions of average income council taxpayers into higher bands, in line with soaring property values. This would mean far heavier bills for the majority.
"Following the chancellor's recent spending review, another crisis year beckons for local government budgets in 2005/06 with a £1 billion funding gap already identified by the Local Government Association.
"There is the prospect of high council tax increases and further cuts, imposed through the threat of capping, in those local services not enjoying a high priority in Whitehall and the ring fenced funding that goes with it. Highways, environmental services and other local council priorities look particularly vulnerable.
"Ministers cannot afford to delay radical reform of town hall funding for much longer. Moreover, if the chancellor does not bridge the 2005/06 budget shortfall by announcing new money later this year, in the same way as extra money was found to moderate council tax increases in 2004/05, council taxpayers and those who rely on local services could be hit again next year."
Stakeholder Response: Institute of Directors
Derek Brownlee, tax executive at the Institute of Directors, said: "Business will worry that the further delay in the review of local government finance means that some unpleasant news will arrive after the next election.
"Abolishing the Uniform Business Rate would be a terrible move for business, which campaigned long and hard to ensure a level playing field on local taxation. It would be all too easy for local authorities to pile on tax rises to business rather than voters - much better for spending, and hence taxation, to be controlled in the first place.
"We will be happy to engage with the review, particularly if it helps kill off some of the more outlandish ideas, such as local income tax. The notion that businesses should have to administer a different set of tax rates for every employee living in a different council area is crazy, and would lead to huge additional administrative burdens."
