The Evening Post picked up a campaign led by Cllr Gareth Epps and myself into the scandal of a 'hidden tax' on Council house tenants in Reading. As a result of Labour government policy,15% of Council rents in Reading end up going back to government coffers.
Cllr Epps said: “It is absolutely outrageous that Reading council tenants are paying rent, not to go on maintaining Reading’s council housing, but to go into a Treasury black hole. Council tenants will be shocked to discover that 15 per cent of their rent doesn’t come back to Reading at all.
“Yet again the Labour Government is penalising some of Reading’s poorest households.
“This money should be going into making every Reading home a decent home and building much needed new affordable housing. Instead, it is being siphoned off by Gordon Brown for his own purposes. It is literally daylight robbery and I hope Reading politicians will start to stand up to it.
I agree. We will be pressing the Council's CCEA Panel to look into this issue in greater depth later in the year to provide answers for Reading's Council tenants.
In other news, the Post published a report on the Kings Tavern Licence application. Please conctact me if you have any questions or concerns about the licence withdrawal earlier this week.
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