THE headline of November 26, Get ready to pay up, came as no surprise and our council seem to be assuming that most of us can afford a ten per cent rise in council tax next year.

We have seen rises in income tax, national insurance, price rises for facilities like the Link Centre, and the abolition of mortgage and married tax allowance. When one also considers the abolition of duty free, together with speed cameras on all main roads both the Government and local authorities should be raking it in already without the need to clobber hard working, law abiding people with even more tax.

Many of us still have mortgages to pay for, bills for telephone, electricity etc.

To assume that anyone can afford a rise in council or any other tax is outrageous.

We are told to accept pay rises of no more than three to four per cent in order to control inflation, then the very people who tell us this decide to raise taxes by ten per cent or more.

PETER BATES

Toothill