Council Tax to be cut by 3 per cent

Residents have welcomed news that the new council in Hammersmith & Fulham is cutting council tax, bucking the national trend. As council tax bills continue to soar across the country, Conservative Hammersmith & Fulham Council is leading the way in cutting bills in their first budget, while still providing top class front line services.

Hammersmith & Fulham residents are set to see their council tax bills go down for the first time in over a decade. The council is proposing a 3 per cent council tax cut which is expected to be the biggest council tax drop in London - and maybe the whole country.

London council tax has risen by 86 per cent in the last decade with taxpayers now braced for another round of hefty hikes. Londoners have seen their bills increase more quickly than any other tax since 1997 placing a huge burden on everyone, not least pensioners, the less well-off and those on fixed incomes. The Labour Mayor of London has also just announced a triple whammy of huge fare rises on buses, trains and the tube as well has his annual increase in his share of the council tax bill.

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, Hammersmith & Fulham Council's leader, explained: "We are combining lower tax with improved services, like free homecare, for the most vulnerable in our society. We were elected to cut council tax bills and deliver better front line services and this is what our first budget does. Residents should compare our efficiency to the Mayor of London's tax escalator which will once again go up in 2007-8. He is going to hammer taxpayers with an increase of well over 5 per cent as well as clobbering commuters with a 33 per cent hike.

"Local MP, Greg Hands MP commented: "This is great news for my constituents in Hammersmith & Fulham, who have been suffering from big rises in council tax for far too long. This will be especially welcome to pensioners and those on low, fixed incomes. Meanwhile, Conservatives in Parliament continue to campaign for the scrapping of the Labour Government's proposed council tax revaluation, which would threaten to undo much of the good work of the councils like Hammersmith & Fulham."