Guest blog post by Revd Paul Nicolson, founder of Taxpayers Against Poverty, writing in a personal capacity
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE in solidarity with everyone in UK suffering mental or physical ill-health due to inadequate incomes and debt
I
have been summoned to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, 51
Holloway Road, London N7 8JA at 13.30 on Thursday 13th July. There will
be a demonstration outside the courts from 12-1.30.
I
am refusing to pay my council tax, as an act of civil disobedience, in
solidarity with everyone in the UK suffering mental or physical
ill-health due to grossly inadequate incomes and debt in work, self
employment, unemployment or zero hours contracts; particularly those
who have been forced by national and local government to go to a food
bank.
TWO UNPRECEDENTED RISES IN DEATH RATES.
How many more infant deaths, how much more diminished life expectancy, do there have to be before
UK national and local governments accept the overwhelming and
undeniable evidence that low incomes impact on mental and physical
health? Some 52,400 more deaths were reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to have
occurred in the year to June 2015 as compared to the same period a year
before,
Dr
Angela Donkin Institute of Health Equity, Profs Kate Pickett and
Richard Wilkinson Equality Trust, Maddy Power University of York, Carl
Walker University of Brighton
I
will be asking the Highbury Corner Magistrates when and how they
checked the costs of £115 they award this year against, mostly
impoverished, council tax defaulters, 27,270 times in 2016/17.
OBJECTION TO HARINGEY'S COUNCIL'S ACCOUNTS
I
have told the auditors that there is a profound public interest in the
council and the magistrates ceasing to impose mental and physical ill
health on the poorest Haringey tenants by enforcing an unpayable
tax against grossly inadequate incomes adding court costs and bailiffs
fees, and failing to collect over £2million every year.
Camden and Westminster Councils have already exempted benefit claimants from the tax.
Haringey's auditors BDO LLP are authorised and regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales
I
have reminded the auditors that BDO LLP is authorised and regulated by
the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales ("ICAEW")
under registration number C001055835. .May I remind you of the ICEAW
code of ethics. "ICAEW members are expected to demonstrate the highest
standards of professional conduct and to take into consideration the public interest. Ethical
behaviour plays a vital role in ensuring public trust in financial
reporting and business practices and upholding the reputation of the
accountancy profession".
HARINGEY COUNCIL TAXES BENEFIT INCOMES OF ITS
POOREST RESIDENTS OF UK'S MOST DEPRIVED WARDS WITH
LOW LIFE EXPECTANCY AND HIGH RISK OF LOW BIRTH-WEIGHT.
Stephen
Hill MRICS Churchill Fellow, Prof Danny Dorling University of Oxford,
Fred Harrison Land Research Trust, Alison Gelder Housing Justice.
Dr
Angela Donkin Institute of Health Equity, Profs Kate Pickett and
Richard Wilkinson Equality Trust, Maddy Power University of York, Carl
Walker University of Brighton
