Council tax collection

New figures reveal Swale’s unpaid council tax bills

SWALE Borough Council failed to collect more than £2.6 million of council tax from residents and businesses according to new figures.

The stats, released by public services union GMB for 2010-11, showed that Swale town hall chiefs should have collected an extra £1,612,000 in domestic housing tax, and £1,016,000 in non-domestic business rates.

Swale were in the top 15 worst performers in the South East region, with only Dartford, Thanet and Medway with larger council tax recovery figures in Kent.

The council has said it has now recovered a large amount since the figures were taken.

A spokesman added: “We try to recover all council tax but there is a difficult balancing act to be made, particularly in the context of the tight financial times in which we find ourselves.

“We take recovery action against people who are not paying, however we will also try to help those customers who are struggling to meet their payments.

“We have now collected £1m of last year’s arrears for council tax and £500,000 of non-domestic rates.”

Medway topped the chart in 2010-11 with more than £4m of unrecovered domestic council tax and £1,175,000 in non-domestic (business) rates.

Dartford Council came 12th in the table with £2,695,000 of uncollected tax followed closely by Thanet with £2,642,000, Maidstone with £2,606,000, and Shepway Council with £1,907,000 still outstanding.

Canterbury City Council was the fourth best performer in the region with only £858,000 of tax unrecovered and Dover Council came sixth with an uncollected tax bill of £973,000.

A spokesman from the GMB added: “It is a scandal and a disgrace when vital services for our elderly and our children in communities are being slashed due to government cuts in funding that more than £1 billion nationally is going uncollected in council tax and business rates.”

The total bill for uncollected council tax and business rates in the South East is £136.9m.