Pay us £460k – or face jail
Hundreds of householders across West and North Norfolk face losing televisions, cars and electrical equipment – or even going to jail – in a crackdown on unpaid council tax.
West Norfolk Council is sending bailiffs after more than 700 council tax defaulters, who collectively owe the authority some 460,000.
The news comes after council leaders warned the authority faced an 800,000 shortfall following a lower-than-expected share of Government budget cash.
Parking charges may have to go up and services cut to avoid an increase in the borough's slice of the council tax bill.
Gareth Evans, the council's head of revenues and customer services, said although the authority has collected a higher percentage of the council tax owed for 2007/2008 than in previous years, it will continue to clamp down on debtors who don't pay up – including taking them to court if necessary.
"As always at this time of the financial year we have many cases for our external bailiffs who will be actively pursuing those who haven't paid," he said. "Those taxpayers run the risk of having their possessions removed and costs added to their account."
In the last six weeks four people have also been jailed for non payment of council tax.
"This is not an action we want to take but if taxpayers who can pay choose not to, we will not hesitate to use the powers available to us," said Mr Evans.
"If there are taxpayers with council tax that is still overdue I would urge them to contact us. We can usually help with an arrangement and prevent having a bailiff knocking at their door and adding costs to their account."
Council leader Nick Daubney added: "This council has always had above-average collection performance and this is important because it contributes towards helping the council to keep down our level of council tax increases."
Bailiffs will also be knocking on doors in the Fakenham area in the first crackdown of its kind in North Norfolk. The district council will now be using bailiffs on an ongoing basis and is currently chasing more than 500 debtors in a bid to collect more than 616,000 in unpaid council tax and business rates.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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