YOUR recent front page article that the amount of Council Tax arrears at the end of the last financial year in Oxford stood at £5,029,912 (February 24) gave a false impression of Oxford City Council’s excellent record on collection.

This year we expect to collect 97.4 per cent of the £71.5 million that is due by the end of March.

But we don’t stop there - we pursue all debts that are outstanding at the end of the year, and eventually collect between 98 per cent and 99 per cent. We chase bad payers and issue a large number of court summons and liability orders.

The total amount that is outstanding from the £700 million collectable from the last 10 years or so is £4.9m; less than one per cent.

Almost three-quarters of the money we collect goes to Oxfordshire County Council and a further 10 per cent to the Police and Crime Commissioner.

They do not pay us to collect the tax on their behalf. That is why we would reject the suggestion by county councillor Rodney Rose that the city council should foot the bill for any unpaid tax.

If you compare local councils’ collection rates, with the appalling levels of unpaid taxes due to the Inland Revenue, and the bad debts built up by the banks that created the worst economic recession in living memory, it is clear that they do much better.

It is also worth pointing out that by removing Council Tax benefit support, the present Government has forced many deprived families into arrears on their Council Tax payments as they have to choose between the tax and other living expenses from their limited resources.

Cllr BOB PRICE

Leader Oxford City Council

Town Hall

St Aldate’s

Oxford