READER’S LETTER: Single people unfairly penalised on Council Tax

I chose Eastbourne when I decided to move away from London, and never regretted my choice.

However the injustice of Council Tax is the same here as in most of the UK.

Single people here pay Council Tax, with a discount of 25 per cent over all other groupings. This has always struck me as mean minded.

Single people are, it seems, supposed to subsidise other households. And the unfairness gets worse every time Council Tax is increased. Where in a household of two, each person pays 50 per cent of the increase, single people pay 75 per cent, and it compounds each year there is a tax rise.

Why does this injustice continue?

I suspect there are more single women than men in the UK, simply because we live longer, on average.

But I only mention this because financial injustice tends to affect women more than men.

The pension scandal for women born in the 1950s is a prime example. We were underpaid and often overtaxed, until married women gained their own tax coding in 1988.

It is generally agreed that the sudden pension age changes were unfair, but most realists were sure there would be no recompense.

Women in their 60s and 70s are not sufficiently important to governments.

Council Tax unfairness – indeed, extreme expense – is not likely to be addressed.

We know councils have many demands on their revenues. However, I fail to understand why we singles should shoulder the majority of the burden.

For the latest breaking news where you live in Sussex, follow us on Twitter @Sussex_World and like us on Facebook @SussexWorldUK