Councils set to avoid tax threshold

Updated
File photo dated 25/06/13 of an aerial view of houses in Brighton as nearly one million people are estimated to have taken out a payday loan in the last year to help cover their rent or mortgage costs, according to research from Shelter. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday January 15, 2014. The housing charity said that one in 50 (2%) people it surveyed said they had done this, which would equate to nearly 885,000 adults if the findings were projected across Britain. Shelter said it dealt with just under 9,000 calls to its helpline from people struggling to pay their rent or mortgage last year, rocketing by one third (32%) on the total for 2012. Its findings about the extent to which people are using loans to plug gaps in their finances came from a survey of almost 3,700 people in November who pay rent or a mortgage. See PA story MONEY Borrow. Photo credit should read: Chris Ison/PA Wire

%VIRTUAL-SkimlinksPromo%Dozens of English councils are poised to infuriate ministers by raising council tax just short of the threshold that would trigger a referendum.

Almost a third of authorities will again reject the offer of extra central Government funding equivalent to a 1% rise to help them freeze bills, according to the most recent survey, and more than half of those plan to impose a hike of 1.99%, the biggest possible without being forced to seek the approval of voters.

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