13 April (Part 2) - London Council Tax rates
I had not expected
the Council Tax League Table positions
to be any different this year to last but I was wrong. Some Councils levy rates only pennies apart from
their fiscal neighbours which means that the most minor of roundings within
their internal calculations can cause a change but nothing has shifted Bexley
from its lowly position with 24 boroughs in London levying lower taxes.
Fortunately it is among the majority of Councils which make the new Tax Rates easily
accessible on their websites and the annual chore is much easier than it used to be. Maybe that is
because I no longer attempt to dig out the figures before the new financial year commences.
Only Islington and Camden have not updated their figures for 2021/22 although in the case of
Islington I found their figures well away from the front page link which still
goes to 2020/21. Camden as in previous years simply hasn’t got the latest
figures on their website. The figures used here come from a local estate agent
and must be checked when Camden Council wakes up.
There does appear to be widespread carelessness or incompetence on display. Some
Council’s list this year’s figures alongside 2020/21’s but the change is nothing
like being in the expected 6% range and a search of their sites for last year's
figures confirm that something has gone wrong. The old figures shown are either
from 2019 or just hopelessly wrong.
Fortunately Bexley is entirely free of these criticisms, it is just far too
expensive but at least Council Tax has not tipped over the £4,000 a year threshold as it
has in Kingston-upon-Thames. I suspect Kingston is
Conservative controlled but their website does not provide a list of
Councillors’ names, only an ‘enter your postcode and reveal one name’ system. Utterly useless.