CHARLES Mann’s article on salary levels within local authorities two weeks ago brings the spotlight onto council tax increases and the way council taxes are used.

This year the increase is expected to be more than twice the rate of inflation at 3.8%.

That figure doesn’t seem too bad when compared with increases in previous years, but it needs to be judged against the present economic climate.

Except for public employees, who are well protected with (mainly) secure jobs, good pay and gold plated pensions, there is the other private world of redundancies, reduced working weeks and little, if any, pension prospects.

Add to this the massive increases in the cost of gas and the electricity plus the loss of interest on savings then, for the majority of pensioners, the prospect of any increase in council tax becomes the final nail in the coffin.

The majority of pensioners pay more council tax than they do income tax, they receive the lowest state pension in the whole of Europe and yet much of their meagre income is snatched from them to pay exorbitant property taxes.

I would hope that when the well paid county and district council bosses sit down to calculate how much extra to grab from the pockets of the citizens they take as much account of the ability to pay as they do the needs of the councils.

In these days of severe hardship, which will last for many years, it is about time that Bucks CC made a pledge to ensure that future annual increases will remain pegged at no more than the rate of inflation.

Arnie Parr, Pretoria Road, High Wycombe