Tory leader Darren Millar questions why council tax is going up, but the quality of public services is coming down. The First Minister says we get more in Wales than across the border and that doesn’t come for free.
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00:00As they say, there's only a few things certain in life, death and taxes, and council tax
00:06is one of those surefire burdens that we all pay, and in the next month, most of us around
00:10the country could be paying a good deal more for our local services than in the last year.
00:14Tory leader Darren Miller says that despite this, our council services are getting worse,
00:18and wants to know why this is happening to people across Wales.
00:22First Minister, this week council tax bills are hitting inboxes and doormats across Wales,
00:26and many taxpayers are galled, frankly, by the big increases in their bills while they
00:32see local services cut.
00:34Facilities such as libraries, public toilets, leisure facilities and community centres are
00:39being closed.
00:41Why is it that people in Wales are paying more in council tax but getting less, and
00:46do you accept your Welsh Government's responsibility for that dilemma?
00:52I can't believe the Tories are talking to us about high levels of taxation.
00:56Your Government left us with the legacy of some of the highest taxation rates we've seen
01:01in this country for years, for decades.
01:05And the fact is that you're quite right, we want to see public services being delivered
01:11at the local authority level, and that's why we were able to put that significant additional
01:17increase into the budget this year, which, may I remind you, you voted against.
01:25In England, when large council tax rises are put forward, Darren Miller says that it has
01:28to go to a referendum for people to pass on, and wants to see the same come to Wales.
01:33The First Minister says that you've simply got to deal with the fact that local services
01:37don't come free.
01:38People in Wales now pay more as a percentage of their income in council tax than over the
01:44border in England, in spite of the fact that they have lower incomes here in Wales than
01:50they do in England because of your Government's atrocious record on the Welsh economy.
01:56Local people have a greater say in council tax because when excessive increases are proposed,
02:03they have to go to the public councils to put it to a vote in a local referendum.
02:10Why is it that you are denying that opportunity to council taxpayers here in Wales?
02:16There's a relationship between taxation and what you get.
02:20In Wales, you get a lot more in certain areas than you do in England, so you just take something
02:25like the £100 cap on care.
02:29There is no cap on care in England.
02:32People are pushed into paying thousands of pounds a week.
02:37That doesn't happen here in Wales, but there is a cost to it.
02:41It is important that people recognise that there is a relationship between taxation and
02:46what you get in terms of public services.
02:49I'm a socialist.
02:50I'm a member of the Labour Party.
02:52I believe in that relationship between public services and taxation.