36.5% local tax rise in last 5 years (band C)
One of the main reasons for my participation in the by-election was the galloping increases in local taxes. The closer the campaign got to the end, the more I felt that the people of our town were so rich that the issue of rampant tax increases didn’t bother them at all. Literally, no one I spoke with, mention taxes. It surprised me and made me think. Why Shirebrook doesn’t care about a 36% tax rise??? After a while, I came up with some theories about it.
THEORY ONE: Frog in boiling water
I’m not sure where I heard this anecdote. I don’t know if this is true or just a colourful metaphor (I don’t approve of animal cruelty but this story fits here so well that it would be a sin not to use it). Anyway, it’s about frogs. The first frog was thrown into a pot full of boiling water. The frog, of course, immediately jumped out and although severely burned- survived. The second frog was dropped into a pot full of cold water and then water is slowly heated. The frog enjoys the warmth and even though the temperature slowly become unbearable- she stays in the pot until she dies from heatstroke.
Labour Party use the same tactics- they increase taxes gradually. People notice it but since changes are gradual- they get along with it: like a frog in slowly heated water. Every time tax rise is above inflation rate but not too high to cause riots. I have nothing against the tax increase in line with inflation. But Labour Party in Shirebrook takes it to the max!
Social sponges and socialist don’t care about taxes- they don’t pay them anyway or… they are caviar socialists– wealthy people with multiple properties and income streams won’t notice a few dozen pounds difference per month less in their pockets. Normal, hard-working, tax-paying people like me- usually look at tax bill once a year- when it comes. We are mad for a while and then life delivers new problems so most of us tend to forget about it and move on with a little bit less money in our pockets.
THEORY TWO: Shirebrook is rich!
I checked with my friends living in other parts of the UK. I pay the highest local tax of them all. Yet- I manage to pay it on time, every time. I assume most of the residents are up to date with their bills. This can only mean one thing: people can simply afford high taxes. No story here- my rage is misdirected.
THEORY THREE: Labour way is the only way!
Shirebrook is a Labour stronghold, and as history teaches us- Labour prefer to create debt and increase taxes before they try to do something else. History shows they rarely try something else- they just watch as society melts down and then blame everything on “rich people and Conservatives”. As long as the town elects Labour Party councillors, taxes will be raised- guaranteed. Labour won’t change, so if YOU WANT a change- you need to change how you behave on election day. Staying home on election day is like voting for Labour, it’s like voting for tax rises…
THE BOAT IS SINKING!!!
2020 was different for oh so many reasons. It was different also in the Shirebrook tax change. This year Labour Party in Shirebrook went mad. After STC spent money they don’t have to build something that no one asked for (new Town Hall), they realised that payments on the 50-year loan they took will tip the boat (bankrupt town)- yearly repayment amount was just too much to keep budget balanced.
So what they did? They reached into your pocket. 9.5% tax increase in one year. Very same year SIR Kier Starmer (knighted, an elitist lawyer living in multimillion mansion turn into “leader” of the party which still claims that they are for the working-class) called proposition of 5% council tax rises “absurd”. Look like doubled absurd is normal in Shirebrook…
9.5% tax rise- ten times the inflation rate that year (2020). TEN TIMES. If you add Labour Party-led BDC tax increase same year (2.8%) you will have a tax rise of 12.3%. That is almost fourteen times above the inflation rate.
Let me underline that again: in 2020, Labour Party increased YOUR local tax FOURTEEN times above the inflation rate in one year. I don’t know- I hope that in 2021 people of Shirebrook finally realised that Labour screws them over. That’s why Shirebrook chose his first Conservative councillor in decades. I have a strange but strong feeling that this is a predictor of greater change in the future…
The wind of change finally reached Shirebrook and it’s our job to embrace it or reject it…
Sylwester Zwierzynski info@shirebrook247.com
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Lead picture: author unknown, found on the internet and edited for blog purpose
