IT'S no secret we live on a small island with a large population, and, without the revenue from gas and oil, our living standard would decline.

Industries disappear daily only to reappear in some other country where life and labour is cheap. It was rumoured council tax might increase by 10 per cent. Now we are told it will increase by 6 per cent.

A few hundred years ago the ruling class of this country tried various forms of taxation -- the window tax, which was a tax on light; the hearth tax, which taxed your fire (at that time the fire was essential for keeping warm, cooking and drying clothes. Another form of tax was the poll tax.

Today, we have VAT. How ruthlessly clever the ruling classes have become. They found it impossible to enforce the taxes of a few hundred years ago, and now VAT does, in fact, tax your lighting, heating and cooking; the council tax benefits the wealthy landlords who grow richer by the hour. Why should we have to pay ground rent in a country which is supposed to be ours?

Thatcher and Blair said they believe in a "money in your pocket" society, and not direct taxation. What we have today is plenty of football millionaires, golfers, singers, entertainers, politicians, Lottery winners, and, of course, the heads of our once nationalised industries. We mustn't say too much about this because the Tories called it the "politics of envy".

We have, in Tony Blair and this Labour Government, a Government who seem hell bent on importing many of the schemes used by the American Mafia to accumulate vast amounts of money. Now Tony is taking us towards a war few people want.

L Bradburn

Nevis Grove

Astley Bridge, Bolton