Warning of another stealth tax on West Sussex

The Chancellor's decision to increase landfill tax by 33 per cent a year from 2008 looks set to inflict another 'stealth tax' on West Sussex and other shire counties, county councillors were warned on Friday.

By The Newsroom

Published 29th May 2007, 17:39 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:34 BST

It is now emerging that the county's tax payers can almost certainly expect to shoulder the burden.

Councillors heard that a letter sent to Gordon Brown by Cllr Steve Waight, the county cabinet member for resources, asking for assurances that the tax rise would not produce another unfunded burden on county authorities had failed to get a satisfactory response.

In fact, Cllr Waight said that when the response finally arrived at County Hall, it did not come from the Chancellor himself but from the customer contact unit at DEFRA - the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

He said that what really concerned him was the last sentence in the letter: "I hope this will assure you that central government is doing all it can to alleviate the effects of the landfill tax on local authorities."

The three-page letter took them no further forward.

For full story see West Sussex Gazette May 30