Pensioner hits out at people who don't pay their council tax

“So, no need to name and shame council tax dodgers *just* yet...”

“You can't really blame Ian Bryan for feeling aggrieved at the apparent loss of council tax and by implication the way that would inflate everyones bill.

Yes he has misunderstood the situation but thats the fault of sensationalist articles in the TIG such as appeared on Dec 20 '£3million council tax black hole revealed in Gloucester'.

When the facts were scrutinised it said the uncollected figure quoted dated back to 1993, 19 years. Well, if council tax is being collected at almost £50m now then say, on average it was £45m dating back to 1993. That's £855,000,000.......so £3,200,000 is a fraction 1%....

Also the figure is not all owed to Gloucester City Council. They collect the tax which is then shared between the county council, city council and police and fire authorities.

Gloucester City's performance of having just 1% owing per annum would make most businesses envious.”

“Many poor pensioners cant pay. Does our MP recieve a discount?”

“I already AM an old goat!

My issue is TiG pimping random views from the public as news. Why should I care what this man thinks?”

“I wouldn't worry too much about "Jew Bacca" lasting very long. If the pseudonym is a reflection of the authors favourite hobby they probably have a mouthful of rotten teeth already. Maybe that's why they are so bad humoured.”

“Jewbacca - did you get out of bed the wrong side this morning? If I were Mr Bryan and was referred to as "some old goat" by someone who doesn't know me, I would feel offended.”

“Jewbacca............one day, you'll be an 'old goat', and if you think your views are important now, you will think them even more after you have paid in to society for as long as Mr Bryan has.
He has a point of course, in that areas that need funding are either going short, or are being paid in full by charging the rest of us that do paym, that extra £3.1m.
I suspect it's the latter, in that the Council has to balance it's books.
I'm more than a little concerned given that we already have a problem costing £3.1m, there is now a 'Recovery Forum' that will have huge costs.
Debbie Llewellyn says: "This group is working together at putting in early interventions so we can reduce the numbers of people going to the full recovery stage."
Are they being judged on results?.....I doubt it, but a collection agency are.
And if just one payment goes unpaid through my bank, I get a letter, so why are these not followed up within say, ten days, with 'early intervention'?
I really do wonder about the ability of many of our civil servants to carry out their job properly.”

“Who cares what some old goat thinks. Is this news?!”