I was flabbergasted to read Croydon Council Leader Mike Fisher’s letter claiming he is proud of Croydon’s council tax enforcement record.

I have recently been made aware that a former tenant of mine left an outstanding council tax bill behind.

How long might one imagine he had not paid council tax for?

Six months? A year? Two maybe?

Actually it was five whole years.

This person did not move around from borough to borough making enforcement difficult.

Rather, he lived at the same address in Central Croydon, less than a mile from Taberner House for the whole period.

I understand from the debt collection agency that the debt (£5,478) has now been written off making a mockery of Mr Fisher’s statement, “Unlike some local authorities that choose to write off debts, which boost their collection rates, we pursue every pound that is owed to us, no matter how far back the debt goes.”

If this individual could avoid paying council tax for five years without, it seems, much effort, it’s fair to assume that many others can and will.

Rather than being proud of that Mr Fisher I think you should hang your head in shame.

I have evidence to support my case. I wonder if Mr Fisher has evidence to support his claims that “collection rates currently stand at 96.2%” and that Croydon’s council tax service is “top performing”  or is this just another case of a politician’s ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’?

I have no political allegiance and am therefore not using this page to score political points.

I am a concerned citizen who has lived in Croydon for 25 years and witnessed the wholescale decline of the borough.

You’ll have to go a long way to convince me Coun Fisher that “Croydon is on the up.”

Tom Whitley; via email

 

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