8:20am Sunday 14th March 2010
A MAN is preparing for a court fight with Basildon Council following a row about a £32.21 council tax bill.
Father-of-four, Simon Wallis, 34, is fuming after receiving a court summons.
The glazier has been out of work since last September with a back problem and has been claiming benefit to cover his council tax bills.
However, he did a single week’s work in January for which he accepts he owed the council £32.21 in council tax, which he paid by phone yesterday morning.
But he says he never received the bill and the first he knew of it was when a court summons came through his door on Wednesday morning.
He says he happily paid the council tax charge, but refuses to fork out for the £45 council administration fee which comes with the summons.
The council has told him to pay both or appear before Basildon magistrates on March 26 and face the prospect of also having to foot the bill for legal costs.
Mr Wallis said: “As soon as I got the summons I called the council to explain I never received the original council tax bill.
“But they refused to listen and their attitude was: ‘We sent the bill and you didn’t pay it, so now we are taking you to court – tough luck’.”
Mr Wallis of Longwick, Langdon Hills, says before his current break from work to wait for an operation, he has always had a full-time job. He says he has worked since he was a teenager and has always paid his taxes.
He said: “It’s not right the council thinks it can just bully people like me who have worked all their lives and paid into the system. My wife has told me just to drop it and pay them, but I’m not prepared to do that. As far as I am concerned I’ll have my day in court – if they want a fight, then they can have one.”
Phil Turner, the council’s cabinet member for resources, said he could not comment on individual cases, but standard recovery procedures were followed in Mr Wallis’s case.
He said the council sends out a bill and then a reminder, and if an arrangement for payment is not made within seven days, a summons is issued with an administrative charge.
He said: “If every household in the district failed to pay a week of council tax this would create a shortfall of millions of pounds, which would have a negative impact on services the council is able to offer.
“Residents have a duty to establish if they are responsible for paying council tax and to pay on time.”
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