DELEGATES from 14 pensioner action forums held a meeting in Taunton recently, representing about 10,000 members in an area stretching from Swindon to Poole right down to West Penwith, Cornwall.

This was the second such meeting and it became clear that the one cost that most members found abhorrent and least affordable was council tax.

One delegate, Roger Redman, has done an extensive study over four years from which he had drawn up a document called Council Tax, Why It's Broken and How To Reform It.

It was found that council tax is based on an impossible income available for taxation of the occupants of that dwelling.

It is supposedly an easy tax to collect but in reality, because it is not based on ability to pay, it resulted in 2.5 million court summons being issued and bailiffs being sent into 1.23 million homes last year.

This simply does not happen in the collection of other taxes such as PAYE or VAT.

Each year the administration cost of council tax is £600m, enough to pay the salaries of 8,000 extra nurses, 8,000 extra police offices and 8,000 extra teachers, which — I am sure most would agree — is money better spent than pushing paper around.

Council tax is formulated in such a way that it discriminates against lower income households and favours wealthier house owners, often in very valuable properties, leaving them to enjoy a capped level of tax.

Given that council tax raised just 12p towards every pound off the local council's income, all that needs to happen to alleviate the distress that it imposes on the lower income households is to scrap it.

To do this, the Treasury would need to increase its annual grant to councils.

This could easily be implemented by a slight rise in other forms of taxation that Britons and visitors to Britain are currently paying, a rise that hardly would be noticeable.

For instance, how many people have noticed the 2.5 per cent decrease in VAT since it was brought in? It has seemed to make little difference in the high street.

It would be reasonable to assume therefore, a similar increase would also be unnoticeable and yet it could remove so much worry and hardship for many households on a lower income, as there would be no more council tax to pay.

The pressure group PACT, People Against Council Tax, has now been formed, not just for pensioners but also for all people who hate council tax, and would like to see it abolished as soon as possible.

To find out more about PACT and Mr Redman's report, phone 01392 860200 or email m.endacott @tinyworld.co,uk.

Bernard Endacott

Devon Pensioners' Action Forum and PACT

Park Road, Silverton

(by post)