Local councils have intentionally been deprived of income by central government, so they need all they can get from their council tax payers within the limits set. There must be many people in Ealing who could afford to pay a lot more, but aren't even asked, as the council tax bands only go up to H, despite there being many more expensive properties and plenty of letters of the alphabet available to apply to them!Until fairly recently, Ealing Council had an 'everybody pays something' policy, which meant they repeatedly held council tax down to protect the less well off. This meant that, after several years, their income to pay for adult and children's social care was well below what it could have been. Under the present system they increase council tax for the majority who can afford it, but protect those who can't with a simpler and more generous discount scheme.
Peter Evans ● 443d