Council tax is soaring, yet again. The Labour Government have turned council tax into a stealth tax, hammering middle England.

But Conservative councils still cost you less and deliver better public services, despite the Labour Governments fiddled funding. Vote Labour or Liberal Democrat and you will pay an average of 53 a year more on Band D bills.

Council tax has gone through the roof under Labour. A typical household now pays almost 500 a year more in tax, paying an average of almost a hundred pounds a month from their take-home pay or pensions.

In 2004-05, the average Band D bill in England will be 1,167 an increase of 69 per cent (+478) since Labour came to power, rising from 689 in 1997-98.

Every year Labour promises a generous funding settlement but every year council tax has risen by an average of three times the rate of inflation. This years increase in England of 5.9 per cent is three times the forecast rate of CPI inflation for 2004 of 1.75 per cent.

Council tax receipts across Britain have risen by 8.9 billion under Labour from 1997-98 to 2004-05 a hike of 81 per cent (HM Treasury, Pre-Budget Report 2003, December 2003, p.217). This is equivalent to a stealth 2.7 per cent increase on the basic rate of income tax.

Council tax has become a stealth tax, engineered by Gordon Brown through fiddled Whitehall funding, but with local councillors taking the blame when council tax bills hit the doorstep.