Sign the Axe the Tax petition.
Kingston is one of London's lowest spending Boroughs, yet it charges the highest Council Tax.
The reason for this apparent contradiction is simple. Kingston is the big loser because of the way the Government calculates its financial grants to London boroughs.
Kensington and Chelsea
London's richest Borough - Kensington and Chelsea -received a grant last year of £475 per resident. At the same time Kingston received just £209 per resident.
Yet average earnings in Kensington and Chelsea are 50% higher than our Royal Borough at a whopping £43,732 a year, compared with £28,184 in Kingston.
Unfair Council Tax
Lib Dem Council Leader, Derek Osbourne, said, "The unfair council tax system hits Kingston residents hardest. We receive less than half the grant per resident than the average London borough.
"Council tax must go."
MPs support campaign
 Only the Liberal Democrats are campaigning for a fair deal for Kingston and their MPs urged Ministers to scrap council tax in the Government's current review of councils' funding.
Richmond Park MP, Susan Kramer, said, "Many local people have told me they've had enough of the Council Tax.
It's the Conservatives' favourite tax - introduced by Michael Howard and pushed up by 43% to over £1,000 a year in Kingston by the Tories when they last ran the local Council in 2002."
National campaign
Edward Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, started the national campaign to scrap the unfair Council Tax.
He says: "I know from talking to people across Kingston and Surbiton that Council Tax is a major problem.
Yet I was shocked to see the tax rocketing in councils across England, with pensioners carrying the heaviest burden."
Pensioners hit
Did you know that, if you look at the proportion of income spent on Council Tax, the poorest pensioners pay nearly SIX times more for Council Tax than the richest non-pensioners?
(Source: Office for National Statistics)
This unfair tax must go.
Council Tax was unfair when the Conservatives invented it, after their failed Poll Tax, yet Labour's underfunding of councils has made it worse.
What should we have instead?
We should replace Council Tax with a tax related to people's ability to pay. In countries like America and Sweden councils use a local income tax so pay pay what they can afford.
If you agree with us then please sign the Axe the Tax petition.
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