Council writes-off almost £400,000 in unpaid tax

THE District council is urging residents in Epping Forest to shop tax cheaters - after admitting to writing off nearly £400,000 in unpaid council taxes.

According to the latest figures the council lost £378,000 in unpaid tax in 2007, despite having a collection rate of 98.2 per cent.

The figures are equivalent to tax paid by 26 band D houses in Epping and will mean an extra £7 in tax per home to cover the loss.

The announcement has met with criticism from Epping Forest Liberal Democrat group leader councillor Jon Whitehouse.

He said: "This is a lot of money that could otherwise be spent on improved services or to reduce council tax bills. The council should make every effort to pursue non-payers whenever there is a prospect of recovering the money owed."

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the Tax-Payers' Alliance, said: "It's unfair that law abiding taxpayers are being stung twice by this bill. Not only will we have to pay for this black hole, but the council already spends a lot of money on enforcement, apparently to no avail. They seem to be happy picking on easy targets like pensioners who owe a few quid rather than the hard core of serial tax avoiders who really cost us all a lot of money."

Epping Forest District Council's director of finance Bob Palmer described the write-off as "a last resort"

He said: "We will continue to work hard to ensure that Council Tax debtors pay what they owe but there will always be circumstances where we are unable to collect some of the tax that is due."

He added; "Unfortunately it is the honest Council Tax payers who have to pick up the bill for those who choose to cheat the system. This is clearly unfair and unjust and we would appeal to Epping Forest residents to help us in our efforts to deal with those who try to avoid paying their share."

If you suspect someone is dodging the system please contact the council in confidence on 01992 564188 or 01992 564189.