PENSIONERS HAVE PAID £4,680 MILLION TOO MUCH COUNCIL TAX UNDER LABOUR: MULHOLLAND
January 31, 2006 12:00 AM
Government figures released today in the Department for Work and Pensions publication Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 2003/04 show that as many as 2 million pensioners missed out on council tax benefit worth around £548 to them on average in 2003/04.
The report series shows that since 1997 British pensioners have missed out on up to £4,680 million of council tax benefit.
The number of pensioners missing out on council tax benefit has nearly doubled from 1,190,000 in 1997 to 2,080,000 in 2003/04. In 1997, up to 31% of eligible pensioners were missing out, now up to 47% are missing out.
The total amount of unclaimed council tax benefit by people of all ages amounts to £6,610 million since 1997.
Commenting Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West and member of Work and Pensions Select Committee, said:
"Since 1997 millions of pensioners have paid hundreds if not thousands of pounds in council tax they need not have.
"Many will have paid this deeply unfair tax because they are put off by an eye-wateringly complex benefit system.
"The Government either don't care or are too afraid to introduce real reform. We must scrap council tax and replace it with a fairer system based on the ability to pay."
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