Arun protests against stealth tax on tenants

Councillors lined up to protest that a government funding formula means the payments have to rise by 5.8 per cent from April.

This is well over five and half times above the retail price index measure of inflation.

It will take the average rent charged by the council to its 3,400 or so tenants to 74.34.

The rise is dictated by the government which has told Arun to hand over 4.43m in the coming year from its council house rents. This is almost 900,000 more than the current year.

Council leader Cllr Gill Brown said: "This equates to about 1,300 a year for each council house tenant paid directly to government. So, one of the poorest sections of our community are paying out an additional tax of 25 a week to help the government out of its financial mess."

Cllr Simon McDougall (Lib Dem, Bersted) said: "This is a tax too far and it is a tax which will be saying goodbye to when Gordon Brown has got the nerve to call the day (for an election)."

Next year's contribution would take the total paid by the tenants to the government to more than 10m in just three years.

Cllr Dr James Walsh (Lib Dem, Littlehampton Beach) compared the payments to the government as a stealth tax paid by the tenants.

He said it was 'incredible' the government should stick with the formula which produced the rent rise when inflation was falling. "This will affect some of the least well off members of our community who are less able to afford the increase," he stated.

"I know people can claim benefits but my concern is for people who are just over the safety net. They are in a Catch 22 situation.

"Their incomes are low but not quite low enough to qualify for benefits yet they are now expected to pay nearly 6 per cent more for their rents."

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