Council tax freeze demanded as analysis shows receipts have TRIPLE in just 24 years
Council tax receipts have risen significantly in recent years
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Campaigners are demanding the Government "freeze council tax" after new analysis showed receipts from the local levy have more than tripled in 24 years.
Total receipts have risen from £12.2billion to £38.5billion in the past 24 years - with receipts having increased by 61 per cent in the last 10 years alone.
Following the increases, the TaxPayers’ Alliance are now calling for the Government put a stop to any more hikes.
Grassroots development manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance Benjamin Elks said that councils should “freeze council tax.”
He added: “Local taxpayers will be outraged to see that they’re handing over more and more while basic services continue to crumble.
“As household budgets are squeezed, local authorities squander cash on pet projects, pointless non-jobs, and risky property speculation, all the while leaving residents with the bill.
“Councils should crackdown on waste and freeze council tax, giving some relief to hard-working local taxpayers.”
The region where council tax receipts increased the most in the first quarter of the latest financial year from the previous year is the North East, receipts increased by 11.7 per cent, compared to the West Midlands, which saw the smallest increase of 5.8 per cent.
When compared with the first quarter 2010-11, the region where council tax receipts have increased the most is the East Midlands, where receipts increased by 79.1 per cent, the East of England saw the smallest increase at 76.2 per cent.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance released research which showed that since the introduction of the council tax system in 1993-94, council tax has increased in real terms by 79 per cent.
They believe that whilst basic public services continue to decline, the taxpayer shouldn’t have to be burdened with an annual council tax increase.
The year that saw the largest annual percentage increase in council tax receipts happened in 2003-04 where receipts increased from £14.5billion to a 13 per cent increase totalling £16.4billion.
The councils with the largest increases in council tax receipts in the first quarter of the latest financial year were Durham (34.2 per cent), Wiltshire (19.9 per cent) and Liverpool (17.8 per cent).
The councils with the largest increases in council tax receipts since 2010-11 are Tower Hamlets (160 per cent), Swale (135.6 per cent) and Salford (123.4 per cent).
The local authority that faced the largest increase in receipts from 2023-24 to 2024-25 was Durham with council tax collected increasing by 34.2 per cent. This was 27.7 percentage points higher than the local authority average across England.
The local authority with the largest percentage increase in receipts from 2010-11 to 2024-25 was Tower Hamlets with council tax collected increasing by 160 per cent.
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said: "In recent years, council tax has increasingly been relied on too heavily by Government to increase councils’ core spending power.
"This has left councils facing the difficult choice about raising bills to bring in desperately needed funding at a time when they are acutely aware of the significant burden that could place on some households.
"While council tax it is an important funding stream, it has never been the solution to the long-term pressures facing councils who ultimately need greater long-term funding certainty to protect services and keep bills as low as possible."