[andrewb]

After hearing several people complain about 'tax tax tax' I decided to do some research.

I looked at council minutes from 1999 onwards, and tried to find out which institutions our money actually goes to.

Something I had discovered that not all people know is that our council tax is set and goes to, several different sources not just our local council. As of 2008 72% goes to county council, 15% to our local Hyndburn council, 9% to the Police Authority and 4% to the Fire Authority.

In 2003 tax to the fire authority was separated out from county council, hence reducing county council tax by £6.10 (for band A), but the new fire authority tax took £33.09 (again for band A).

For the purpose of the figures I've included the fire figures with county figures so that I can easily compare county tax before fire was taken out of it.

Since 1999 Hyndburn council tax has increased 45%
County council tax has increased 48%
The Police Authority tax has increased by 117%

Now according to the BBC and other sources, on average council tax has increased by over 100%.

People are now earning 50% more than 10 years ago, and minimum wage is changing to 60% increase since 1999 as of October 2008.

As a result of this, I think our council is pretty good with its tax compared with elsewhere as it is only increasing along with earnings and has saved money in the bank which can be used for a rainy day if the economy gets any worse.