Are you ready for a council tax clobbering?

The levy is rising sharply and the IFS says it has never been so unfair, writes James Moore

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London highlights how unfair council tax has become (Getty)

The average increase in one of the most unfair levies the British government has ever come up with is 4.4 per cent this year. We’re all now on the clock.

There are some who would argue against describing this as a stealth council tax hike because the levy is set and collected by local authorities. They would be wrong.

The majority of councils’ funding comes from central government, which also has the power to cap the amount they can raise themselves. When ministers starve them of central funding they have little choice but to increase council tax by the maximum amount allowed. That’s what has happened this year when more than half have imposed increases of 5 per cent.