HOUSEHOLDERS are facing fresh council tax misery with bills set to soar by at least 7.5 to eight per cent across Buckinghamshire.

And the inflation-busting increase, which will come on top of massive rises in previous years, could be even larger if the Government accepts proposals to change its grant formula by steering cash away from wealthier parts of the country.

The increased charges around £70 extra for a Band D household per year will bring dismay to taxpayers in south Bucks who have previously sent a major petition to the Government calling for a cut in the levy.

On Thursday, Wycombe Pensioners' Voice chairman Jim Tanner called for people to rise up and campaign for a change in the system which sees tax rises outstrip pension increases.

Mr Tanner said he would bring the the tax rise subject up at Pensioners' Voice meeting on Friday. He said he was one of the lucky ones financially. "But that doesn't mean I don't sympathise with those who can't afford it," he said.

The projected rises for next April, forecast by county council leader David Shakespeare, are a result of low increases in Government grant.

The increase in Bucks this year was 3.7 per cent, 5.6 per cent the year before, and 14.8 per cent the previous year.

On Friday Buckinghamshire County Council's cabinet were due to get an officers' report on the plan to change grant formula, proposed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The report says £120 million will be shifted from counties to London and cities, resulting in significantly less money for Bucks and limiting the council's ability to do its job. Three years ago the Government also diverted grant to places it said needed it more. Bucks lost £11.2 million and its council tax rose 14.8 per cent.

Cllr Shakespeare said extending this policy was totally unfair. The current formula already took account of deprivation.

He is writing to the ODPM saying moving grant about will hit council tax payers.

At the council meeting he said: "With the election over, the Government doesn't need to bribe the electorate in the way that was necessary last year.

"The £360 million bribe that kept taxes down is not going to be repeated.

"Services will still need to be paid for, but the money won't be there."

He said under the current formula the national increase in grant would be down from 5.5 to 1.7 per cent, and when 6.3 per cent more for schools was taken out, only 0.7 per cent remained for everything else.

He said the figures came from local government treasurers.