MANY readers will no doubt be shocked to discover that Kirklees Council is owed more than £23m in unpaid Council Tax.
If people fail to pay up on time it’s not long before a nasty letter drops on the doormat threatening action if the outstanding bill’s not settled.
So the question must be how have so many people got away without paying for so long?
Tough words should be followed by tough action.
Kirklees Council now has to make savings running into many millions of pounds over the next few years so no doubt every right-minded person who has paid all their Council tax – often struggling to do so – would expect officials to take a robust approach to clawing this huge unpaid amount back from others.
Many Kirklees employees who also face an uncertain future would also expect the council to be looking at every possible way to recoup unpaid money in all its forms before wielding the axe and cutting jobs.
Questions also need to be asked as to how it has come to this with such a huge amount being owed from just seven years from 1993 to last year and what action will be taken in the future to stop it from happening again.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the months ahead and let’s hope the council is keen to publicise what it is doing to remedy the problem..
