Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales have called on the Labour Assembly Government to release figures to show how the rebanding of council tax has affected the amount of revenue received by local councils from council tax.

Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Finance and Local Government Dai Lloyd AM today said that Minister’s seemed unable to release figures relating to financial support given to local authorities.

Dai Lloyd commented:

“The Minister for Local Government could not provide the figures when I challenged her on the matter during last week’s committee meeting, and the First Minister could not reveal the information when I asked him yesterday during questions. This is very worrying as this information should have been available prior to the Draft Budget debate as it affects the amount of financial support given to local authorities from the Assembly budget.”

Dai Lloyd further commented:

"I have now learned from the Assembly’s research services that the amount of revenue collected by local authorities across Wales from council tax had increased on average 5.4% during the first financial year since rebanding. This is a considerable increase as normally the change is around 1%. This means that most local authorities have received more money from council tax payers as a result of rebanding, despite government assurances that the rebanding exercise was not intended to raise council tax. Furthermore this increase in council tax revenue may be used by the Labour Assembly Government as an excuse to decrease the amount of funding it provides to local authorities.”

Diwedd/Ends

Notes

Click here for notes.