Will town halls be allowed 'widows tax'?

Town councils are clearly desperate for money: and in their desperation they have called on the government to give them the power to decide who gets a discount on their council tax. Amongst other things this would give them the power to remove the single person discount. This would mean single people living alone - who are often widows - would be forced to pay hundreds of pounds more in council tax every year.

So why are they demanding such a draconian change, and who would be affected?%VIRTUAL-SkimlinksPromo%