PENSIONERS INCENSED ABOUT THE BURDEN OF COUNCIL TAX, SAYS HELP THE AGED

25th April 2008

Responding to figures from the Conservatives that shows a third of the pension rise since 1997 has been spent on Council Tax, Mervyn Kohler, Special Adviser at Help the Aged, says:-

“This is a helpful reminder of why pensioners get so incensed about the burden of Council Tax. Inevitably Council Tax rises tend to follow earnings increases but pensioner incomes follow the consumer prices index rate of inflation. As a result, the real incomes of pensioners have slipped behind. The take-up of Council Tax Benefit among pensioners has dropped by at least 10 per cent since 1997, further adding to the pressure.

“With only half the older people actually claiming the Council Tax Benefit they’re entitled to, it is essential that this and future Governments commit to paying benefits automatically. Research shows this would take half a million pensioners out of poverty overnight(1).

“Older people face a convoluted means-tested system and are put off claiming the money that is rightfully theirs. Yet when it comes to the automatic payment of benefits, the spirit in some parts of the Government seems willing, but unfortunately for the 2.2 million pensioners living in poverty, the flesh in the Treasury seems weak.”

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