| Figures obtained under freedom of information legislation show that since 2004 almost £11m of the tax, plus water and sewerage charges has been lost to the city council.
In 2007/08 alone, arrears owed by more than 13,500 and totalling in excess of £3.84million was written off.
The amount of bad debt has trebled since 2004/05 when the local authority lost £1.26m and rates of non-payment have increased sharply on an annually since then.
Councillor Willie Sawers, SNP finance spokesperson, said today the figures showed the council tax was inefficient, outmoded and should be scrapped.
He said, “The figures show how difficult the system is to operate. The number of unpaid accounts has more than doubled from just over 6000 to 13,500.
“Council tax benefit does not cover the water and sewerage element, so people have to pay this extra themselves.
“The same council tax is paid by everybody no matter their incomes, and the bandings have not been altered since 1991.
“It is time to scrap council tax altogether and replace it with local income tax.”
“All this contributes to a system that is creaking at the seams.
“The unpaid tax is unacceptably high and represents a huge loss to the council.
Dundee City Council said processes for debt recovery were “robust” and only “limited criteria” could lead to a decision to write off debt.
The arrears will be cancelled if the debtor is deceased and leaves no estate, where an individual has been sequestrated, where the debt owed is uneconomic to pursue or where the person is not traceable.
A spokesman told The Tele the authority took its responsibility to collect the tax seriously.
He said, “The figures include write-offs for water and sewerage charges and penalties for late payments.”
He added that the write-offs for debts shown for 2007/08 are not just for money owed in that year.
“A new debt recovery system was brought in and fully introduced in 2005/06 which provided more accurate management information on the likelihood of those debts ever being recovered.
“At this time, we were also able to clear a backlog of work which together accounts for the £1.3 million increase in write-offs between the 2004/05 and 2005/06 financial years.
“Since the new debt recovery system has been operational, the level of council tax collection both in-year and cumulative has been increasing. This improvement is a trend which the city council is committed to continuing.
“The city council does everything possible to recover debts and debt write off is a last resort which is never taken lightly.” |
