Cheshire East households facing huge council tax bills

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, announced more flexibility for local authorities to set their council tax rates

The Autumn Statement said councils in England will be able to set tax rises of up to five per cent per year.

But that won’t be the end of it – as in years gone past toothless town councils – including Macclesfield Town Council – will be making the case for their inevitable annual increase in the council tax precept.

Add to this the inevitable annual requests from Cheshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner and Cheshire Fire Authority – and the increase in everyone’s council tax bill is going to hurt a lot of people.

They’ll all tell you the increases are minimal – we’d estimate you could be paying Macclesfield Town Council around £7.00 a month for a band D property in 2023 – but in a two person household that’s £14.00. And when the Police and Fire authorities add their slice it adds up to a sizeable additional chunk – that many can ill afford.

There’s little any of us can do to prevent the punishing rise in Council Tax – but next February/March you’ll have the opportunity to vote against unnecessary and profligate rises in Cheshire Police and Cheshire Fire Authority precept.

Last year around 3,500 residents took the trouble to vote on the Cheshire Police precept increase – with circa 2,500 approving the request.

If you don’t vote – the precepts will continue to rise year on year – and you may find that one day you’ll be one of those struggling to pay your council tax.