“DON’T live in Kirklees if you don’t want to pay council tax.”

That was the message from Kirklees Council as the authority took another 2,000 alleged tax evaders to court yesterday.

This month’s debt recovery operation was the second wave of mass legal action against council tax defaulters.

Last month Kirklees Council took legal action against 3,000 non-payers in its bid to recoup £5.3m of debts.

More summonses have since been served and yesterday officers from the council’s debt recovery service fast-tracked almost all 2,000 cases in just over two hours.

But only a handful attended Huddersfield Magistrates yesterday to contest their debts. Among the defaulters, a 37-year-old woman, from Lockwood, who owed £837, said she could not pay because she was already in thousands of pounds in debt.

And a 76-year-old man, from Almondbury, who owed £462, claimed he had not received notification from Kirklees Council despite requesting a bill several times.

Kirklees takes council tax non-payers to the magistrates court so it can increase its options for recovering the outstanding debt.

This includes using attachment of earnings against a debtor’s income or bailiff action. In more persistent cases there may be bankruptcy or prison action to tackle non-payment.

In 2006/07 the service passed 10,000 cases to bailiffs, obtained 159 warrants of arrest and made 30 people bankrupt for non-payment of council tax.

Clr David Hall, the Cabinet member for the Revenues and Benefits service, said: “It’s the biggest push we’ve ever had. We won’t tolerate evasion because it’s robbing other people.

“Evaders had best watch out in Kirklees because we’ve a good way of tracking and catching people who avoid paying. Once we are aware we take action.

“We decided enough was enough that’s why we did all the prosecutions at once to leave a firm message.

“But prosecutions are always ongoing and we’ll be doing the same next year. As long as people don’t pay we will take action.

“The message is clear: don’t come and live in Kirklees if you don’t want to pay council tax.”