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Making it fair: council tax benefit and working households
- Authors:
- KENWAY Peter, PALMER Guy
- Publisher:
- Local Government Information Unit
- Publication year:
- 2005
- Pagination:
- 14p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Support for the principle that taxes should be based on ability to pay explains the appeal of the campaign to replace council tax with a local income tax. What both sides in the council tax versus local income tax argument often overlook is that the amount that the poorest fifth of households should be paying in council tax is already based on household income. However, the way the system works obscures this point, is resented and is extraordinarily mean to low income, working-age households. Council tax benefit (CTB) provides an income-related component to the system. CTB sounds arcane, but it is the means-tested benefit with by far the largest number of people - some seven million - entitled to receive it. For households with the lowest incomes, CTB reduces the council tax to zero. In practice though, CTB works badly for pensioners, partly because many fail to claim their entitlement and partly because of the restrictive rules about savings that disqualify many. The solution to this is to change the appearance and administration of CTB, so that it can be run centrally (for example, by the pension service), but without the stigma felt by many over means testing.
The impact of council tax on older people's income
- Authors:
- KENWAY Peter, PANNELL Jenny
- Publisher:
- Help the Aged
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 26p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Help the Aged commissioned this report from the New Policy Institute to consider the evidence about the council tax burden on older people, and to formulate a number of policy recommendations. The findings and conclusions cover three areas: the impact of council tax on pensioners; the council tax benefit system; and goals and supporting policies on council tax and council tax benefit that pensioners and their organisations could consider supporting.
Indicators of poverty in Scotland: a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Authors:
- KENWAY Peter, RAHMAN Mohibur
- Publisher:
- New Policy Institute
- Publication year:
- 2000
- Pagination:
- 27p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Provides statistical information on poverty in Scotland, including data on low income and child poverty, work and unemployment, pensions and savings, homelessness and poor health.