Tax dodgers cost Merthyr residents £1.5m

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 10th Aug 2005

A total of £1.5 million of Council Tax has gone uncollected in Merthyr, reveal the latest figures released by the National Assembly for Wales. With a collection rate of 94.6%, Merthyr has the second worse collection rate in Wales after Bridgend

Michael German, Welsh Liberal Democrat regional AM commented, "People in Merthyr are losing out as a direct result of the difficulties local authorities have in collecting the Council Tax. No council in Wales manages to collect more than 97% of Council Tax because a property based tax is, by nature, complex to administer.

£1.5 million is a significant amount of money, which could be ploughed back into providing better roads, better social services and better education for the children of Merthyr Tydfil.

"The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for a fairer system, deducted from salaries in the same way as Income Tax is presently done. This would not only increase collection rates, but would also be a cheaper method of tax collection."