Letter: Tories lie about council tax

WHY IS no one incensed at the outrageous lie pushed by the Tories that the fact that the average council tax per tax band in Tory council areas is less than the equivalent in Labour or Liberal Democrat areas proves that 'Conservative councils cost you less'? It proves nothing of the sort. It merely proves that the combination of specific ratios of various tax band properties in any one area, together with the Heseltine formula, result generally in a higher tax in all tax bands in any council area where the lower tax band properties predominate, even if the local council does a superb job at keeping costs down. Neither the ratios nor the formula are in the control of the local council. In other words, if there are more lower-banded houses in a district the tax in each band must be higher.

Did Heseltine produce his formula knowing that it would inevitably lead to a blatant distortion of the truth as part of a propaganda exercise?

N H Wright

Tonbridge, Kent