Council taxpayers face an extra bill of up to £1 BILLION because of missing funds and failures by bungling town hall bosses
The Sun's revelation comes as some councils are already planning to hike their council tax bills by up to 20 per cent
COUNCIL taxpayers face an extra bill of up to £1 billion because failures by bungling town hall bosses.
The Sun’s revelation will only deepen anger coming at the same time as some councils already plan hikes of up to 20 per cent.
Households that pay their council tax on time face soaring bills this year to cover millions in uncollected taxes and business rates.
A Sun probe of British councils found missing funds totalling more than £179 million from last year - but the true black hole will likely be closer to a billion pounds.
And some of these councils are hiking their tax rates this year by as much as 22 per cent.
The failure to properly collect taxes by local government chiefs is being passed on to households, who face an average tax rise of 4.9 per cent this year.
And last month the government gave the green light for councils to further hike bills by as much as six per cent over the next three years to pay to care for frail and elderly people at home.
The Sun sent Freedom of Information requests to all 418 UK local authorities, with 63 opening their 2014/15 books to inspection.
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Our probe revealed uncollected council tax of £119 million and £60 million in business rates in those areas.
If these figures are repeated across the country then around £1 billion in money owed is not being collected in the UK.
Amongst the worst councils for collecting dosh were Southwark in South London who had a £11 black hole in their 2015 accounts.
Redcar in North Yorkshire failed to collect more than £10 million, and Bexley in Kent failed to collect £4.5 million.
Last night Liberal Democrats demanded “councils get their act together.”
“These figures are shocking but it’s likely the actual figure is actually closer to a billion pounds in uncollected taxes.
“No business on earth could not collect what it’s owed without going bust,these councils are no different.
Party chief Tim Farron told The Sun: “why should some people get a free ride while others pick up the tab?”
He added: “They are simply leaving everyone else to pick up the tab, with higher rates for those who do pay or by slashing services.”
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "We expect councils to chase up all outstanding debts. Whilst more than 97% of council tax and 98% of business rates are collected, every penny counts.";