Council taxes going up...
...enthusiasm for 2012 Olympic Games going decidedly down.
Although I don't know where this BBC report gets its figures from. According to the Beeb, the 'average Londoner' will be paying £290 per year in council tax after planned increases to help fund the 2012 Olympics. Last time I calculated, my current council tax bill is costing me closer to £450 per year as it is. Are they really going to try to squeeze even more out of me than that? What about the people who earn even less than me? We all knew this was going to happen - no Olympics have been funded on business investments alone - but on top of how bloody expensive everything else is in London, well... it's going to be painful.
posted by Lady M @ 4:09 pm
3 comments
3 Comments:
Lady M, everybody who is the least intelligent knows that preparing for the Olympics is no free lunch- it has to be paid for, with the combination of private and taxpayers' money. The real issue is whether the Government is going to contribute any funding, as there has been rumours seen in the media that there be no public money will be used. Like many of us, I hope that this will go all pear-shaped, and that another country will take on the Olympics in 2012.
Neville, as I said in my original post, I am perfectly well aware that the Olympics are paid for by a combination of private and public funding. Always has been, always will be. It doesn't stop it from being a pain in the ass, though, now does it.
And speaking as someone who comes from a city where the taxpayers are STILL paying off their Olympic debt some 30 years after the Games were held there in '76, you'll forgive me for being a bit concerned at the possibility of the same thing happening here.
Like many of us, I hope that this will go all pear-shaped, and that another country will take on the Olympics in 2012.
Something would have to go seriously, seriously wrong for that to happen, I think. In the run-up to July 6th, much was made of the Games bringing a desperately needed economic boost to the people of Hackney, Stratford and the surrounding areas... I think there's going to need to be concrete evidence of that happening within a year or two (more jobs etc), rather than it simply pushing up local house prices. And I think national-level gov't funding is the only way to make that happen. Otherwise, as you say, public support is going to dwindle to nothing.
All depends on what Gordon decides to prioritise, I guess. Not like there aren't a whole host of other issues that need urgent attention.
Greatt post thankyou
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