Nearly 2000 council tax dodgers in Dumfries and Galloway last year
The local authority has written off a huge list of unpaid council tax debts
Nearly 2000 council tax dodgers avoided paying their dues to Dumfries and Galloway Council last year, it has been revealed.
The local authority has written off a huge list of unpaid council tax debts of under £10,000 between October 1 last year and March 31 this year.
There were 1909 accounts scrubbed – which amounted to a total of £423,257 of lost income.
This equates to an average of £221 in debt for each account.
Council tax chiefs gave various reasons for giving up on chasing the debts, including “gone away with no trace”, “no realistic prospects of recovery”, and “uneconomic to pursue”.
The figures were published in a debt write-offs report that was recently tabled at the council’s enabling and customer services committee.
Lorna Campbell, the council’s revenues and benefits manager, wrote:
“In year collection levels for council tax have been consistently between 95 per cent to 97 per cent over the past few years.
“The service continues to pursue all debt after the end of the financial year and total collection rates (taking into account amounts collected in subsequent years) reach over 98 per cent.”
It was also revealed that several business owners have also avoided paying significant bills which amounted to a total of £243,252.
The report confirmed that there were seven cases where non-domestic rates were not paid on business properties in Dumfries town centre and a hotel in Castle Douglas.