AT the stroke of a pen, Bolton council has condemned thousands of households to increases in council tax that none of us voted for.

We will be forced to pay them, with a threat of imprisonment for those who object.

Council tax is a crude and iniquitous way of raising money for local government. It is derived from property valuations which are notoriously inaccurate.

It is based on the assumption that the more your house is worth, the wealthier you are -- a simplistic notion, at best, that has been exposed as nonsense by the soaring property market.

It regularly increases at a far higher rate than inflation and is proving burdensome to increasing numbers of families.

It causes particular hardship for elderly people living on meagre pensions.

The prospect of massive council tax increases follows hard on the heels of rises in National Insurance, and the threat of university top-up fees.

Thousands in Bolton voted for a modern New Labour Council.

Many are starting to wonder if what they got was Old High Tax Labour in disguise.

Cllr Walter Hall

Chairman Bradshaw Conservatives

Sandown Road

Harwood