Letter: Budget - We are all paying too much tax

They are outside my country and my control until June 23 when I will have the right to decide who spends my taxes, where and what on.

People who know me will think a new pool would be top of my list. However, there is also Ripon Hospital that would benefit from some of the £50,000,000 a day we send abroad; our local schools need 21st century equipment and facilities for our next generation; perhaps North Yorkshire County Council could use some of the daily £50,000,000 to fix our road surfaces and not just repair some of the many potholes.

However, closer to home my council tax in 2003 was £881.52 and in 2016/17 it is £1,503.02, so roll on the May 2016 elections. What are our local politicians playing at?

I have not had a pay rise during that time to keep in step with this modern plaque and when I saw the 36.2 per cent rise in the precept for Ripon City Council I was astounded.

It is a parish council with little or no power and is basically, or should be, a conduit to pass ideas and problems to Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council who do have the power and hold the purse strings.

This statement is based on serving eight years as a councillor with a very high attendance rate, in the Ripon chamber.

I am seeking justification for this excessive increase and have written to the current mayor accordingly.

I was brought up to believe that living beyond one’s means is not acceptable. The same political class that got the country into the financial mess we are in now has sheltered those responsible.

Austerity is all right if you are rich, but I feel really sorry for those poor folk on disability who are having their essential funding attacked and cut in order to give a tax break for the middle class.

I believe this is still a Christian country and we should be looking after the poor and needy rather than penalising them and adding to their mental anguish along with their physical ones.

Basically, the Harrogate Borough Council council tax is a burden to the many but imposed by the few, who generally have the means to pay it.

The police station disappeared from Ripon but there is a two per cent rise in council tax. NY Fire and Rescue Service are being cut/amalgamated and reported to be attending less calls having again a rise of two per cent; North Yorkshire County Council again a two per cent rise but I am not sure for what.

Nearly forgot Harrogate Borough Council amongst other things have cut my rubbish collection by 50 per cent but increased the cost of it (and other things) by two per cent.

I wonder if others like me feel like a milch cow, just there to be milked on a regular basis with no reward at the end of it.

Bring on the elections and allow the generally silent majority to have their say on how we are “governed” in the future.

Kenn Hart

Gallows Hill, Ripon