The Green Wheelie Bin Tax

The attempt by Margaret Thatcher's  Conservative government in the late 1980's to introduce what was commonly  called the Poll Tax - more properly the Community Charge -and the ensuing riots driven by the unpopularity of the tax is generally held to be one of the chief reasons for Maggie's demise. Yet it always struck me - and still does, come to that - that the Community Charge was a more equitable way of assessing and collecting local taxes than either the rates that preceded it or the current Council Tax system. Since the system of collecting local taxes known as rates - which began life as the poor rates in the seventeenth century, being replaced by the general rates following the 1925 Rating and Valuation Act - was based solely on the notional value of a property, a family of five wage earners would pay the same as a single pensioner living in an identical property next door, despite using more significantly more local services, and despite having an income several times greater than said pensioner. It seemed to me to fit the principle, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" but many people disagreed.

The problem with the Community Charge was less the principle than the implementation and large families in small properties saw their liability to the local authority increase significantly. With some justification, the tax was seen as saving money for the rich and moving the burden of paying for local services onto the poor. The principle remains sound, however - a family of five will generally consume more local services than a person living alone, however neither will use more street lighting nor be more of a burden on the council's planning department than the other: so perhaps the time is coming for another change in the way in which local taxes are calculated and collected. And I say that because of moves that are afoot in the London Borough in which I live that suggest that in the future council tax bills may be more tailored towards the services we consume and the degree to which we use them.

Only 12% of Barking & Dagenham's revenue comes from Council Tax, while Children's Services represent the largest outgoing.

Now, I have often sung the praises of my local council who, although they require me to pay them the best part of £2,000 per annum, have always provided a good level of service. The streets are clean, the street lights work, my refuse gets collected (albeit the refuse collectors went on strike last year for what seemed like an eternity)and generally the council get on with things with little fuss or bother. And last year, when I was clearing out my mother's house after her death, they came and took away stacks of bulky waste, although they do make an additional, nominal charge for that, which is a direction they - and other councils - are increasingly likely to take. Despite it being extremely difficult to avoid paying Council Tax - in 2014-15 it had a collection rate of 97% - it covers less than 25% of council expenditure, with central government funding and business rates covering the other seventy-five percent. But with cuts in government funding and income from business rates subject to fluctuations as businesses prosper or founder, local council services have come under increasing pressure and all local authorities are faced with the unpalatable alternatives of either having to increase council tax or cut services - or both.

At present my local council collect my domestic waste weekly and my recycling and garden waste fortnightly; next week is the last week when my garden waste will be collected this year and the service should resume next March. But when - or if - it does, I may find myself paying extra, as the council have started a consultation on whether residents would be prepared to pay extra for garden waste collections. And although they estimate it would be as little as £1 per week, I figure it would probably be considerably more than that, since the most efficient way of running such a scheme is to sell residents garden refuse sacks - and the more sacks you use, the more you will pay, or if they continue with the wheelie bin system then I guess I will be paying more than most as due to the size of my front garden (thanks to the large tree in it), I need two wheelie bins, into which I still sometimes struggle to fit all my grass cuttings and the leaves the tree drops. The proposal to charge extra for garden waste collection has predictably provoked many comments on social media, with opponents arguing that they already pay enough in Council Tax and supporters taking the viewpoint that many people pay for the service despite not using it, such as those who live in flats or other properties that have no gardens.

Come Autumn and our wheelie bins get filled with leaves.

I realise that in many other boroughs paying extra for garden waste collection is the norm, but stepping down the road of individual pricing for any service that some people might describe as optional could lead to a rather difficult debate about what an individual pays for versus what they consume. Council tax pays for schools, roads, libraries, children's services and adult social care: it also contributes towards the cost of the police and fire service, and while many of these are core services to which we all should pay, I would argue that some are optional extras. I no longer have children attending school in the borough; in fact since both of my children attended secondary school in a neighbouring borough, it is seven years since I had a child in a school in my borough. So just as the tenant of a flat on the tenth floor of a tower block who generates no garden waste feels they ought not pay for garden waste collection when they have no garden, should I be expected to pay for services like schools or libraries that I don't use? But schools and libraries are essential services, you may say. Well, so is garden waste collection - if you have a garden, because by charging extra for it, councils risk residents refusing to pay and  fly-tipping their waste, which then costs even more to clear.

Fly tipping is a major problem. This mile long tip appeared overnight near the Dartford Crossing in November 2014. Photo: East News

But whether it is individual prices for optional services, privatising services, or sharing services and resources with neighbouring boroughs, the way in which local authorities raise income and how they spend it will change. Council partnerships with private enterprises are increasingly the norm, while merging some services with those in other boroughs is also an increasing trend. The changes to the landscape of local government services that are currently in train are being delivered incrementally and at varying rates to varying degrees across the country rather than in one fell swoop, yet they are  possibly even more fundamental than the introduction of the so-called Poll Tax. Unlike the protests against the Poll Tax, I doubt there will be protesters marching on Barking Town Hall towing green wheelie bins.