THE Council Tax is too much. We need radical change. Having just received the latest Council Tax bill, I can t help thinking that the situation is now completely out of control. The Council Tax is a mortgage that always goes up, you will never pay off and

THE Council Tax is too much. We need radical change. Having just received the latest Council Tax bill, I can't help thinking that the situation is now completely out of control.

The Council Tax is a mortgage that always goes up, you will never pay off and, unlike income tax, affects you simply because you exist. It frankly drains the human spirit.

Councils force us to give them more money each year and, while it would be unfair to say that they don't try to work for us or that there is absolutely no improvement to our environment, I still believe that most people think that much of the funding it is mismanaged.

May I suggest to the current "Sheriff" that this system is wrong, and extorting money from your local community on the premise that we all want more, more, more is absolutely wrong.

I think that what most people actually want is for the infrastructures already in place to work properly and I suspect most believe that this could be achieved with good housekeeping.

Councils need a budget and a mechanism to raise that money, but they also need to learn how to manage budgets in the same way that we all have to. To raise funds, the concept of a "local income tax" would represent a much fairer system, but without further change any new tax would be open to abuse by councils.

To overcome this we need to place tight controls over our councils. This could be achieved in the following way: local communities should, after consultation, set a realistic and fair budget for the council to work with. It should be fixed for a number of years and the council should be forced through accountability to work within the confines of that budget.

If during that time they need more money then they should ask and a mechanism should be in place to allow communities to decide the outcome though proportional representation.

This would be achievable by courtesy of the internet.

Does anyone else think this a reasonable way forward?

NIC MOUNTENEY, Owl Way, Huntingdon