THE extortionate increases in our council taxes could have been avoided if our contributions to the EU amounting to between £9 and £11 billion each year over the past five years had been available to fund the UK's public services.
While it is true that the commissioners in Brussels have allowed us to have about half of the above contributions, including the rebate, it is an unnecessary waste of our taxes to be squandered in the EU when the money could be far better spent in the UK.
The only answer is for the Government to arrange an amicable withdrawal from the EU and negotiate a sensible trading agreement with the EU, as do Norway and Switzerland and many other non-EU countries worldwide.
This is what those of us who voted to join the Common Market thought, and were told, we would get.
Instead we have been, and still are being, sucked into an all-powerful state, draining us out of our hard-earned income and savings.
It is no wonder some people are feeling so strongly about these increases that they are prepared to be imprisoned for refusing to pay their council tax.
JOHN F WEBB
Ailesbury Way, Burbage
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