Resist the unfair Council policy of threatening thousands of people in arrears with sequestration!
Demonstrate at the council meeting
9.30am Thursday 5th Feb 2009
City of Edinburgh Council meeting, City chambers, High St, Edinburgh
Organised by Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty
The Council Tax is widely recognised as being unfair, disproportionately hitting those on low and average incomes. Most people on benefits are supposed to pay water and sewage charges from £252 to £632 per year, while low paid workers are supposed to pay far more than they can afford. Meanwhile the rich use loads of lawyers to avoid paying tax.
Despite the Council Tax being due for abolition, on 11th November the City of Edinburgh Council adopted a new policy of threatening 15,000 people in arrears with sequestration (bankruptcy).
We demand the Council drop their new policy of threatening people with bankruptcy.
They are trying to force these 15,000 people to pay off their arrears within a year, clearly impossible for most, as the arrears often run into thousands of pounds. This unjust policy is even crazier when we consider that the Council is run by a LibDem/SNP coalition – both these parties advocate the abolition of the Council Tax, but are hounding people who cant afford it!
We are determined to resist this injustice.
We won’t be intimidated by the Council bullies!
Know your rights
– don’t tell the sheriffs or council anything about your bank account or work
– avoid holding any savings in the main banks
– in the unlikely event sheriffs come to your door, don’t let them in and don’t talk to them. They have NO legal power to force entry to your home without obtaining an Exceptional Attachment Order in court – which is very rare
In reality the sheriff officers have limited powers and cannot cope with chasing tens of thousands of people – remember how we beat the Poll Tax!
We oppose the Council’s policy of cutting back vital services in communities, including in nurseries and education, in important community projects like those in north Edinburgh, and in the support of people with learning disabilities, whose service is under threat through being put out to competitive tender, effectively putting vulnerable adults up for sale to the lowest bidder.
Society has the resources to have good services without hounding the poor to pay unaffordable taxes – billions are being found to bail out bankers, while billions fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A NETWORK OF SOLIDARITY
Join the Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty solidarity phone tree – we are creating a network of people ready to turn up to combat sheriffs and other perpetrators of injustice.
Bad conditions at work, redundancies, harassment by debt collectors, benefits cuts, soaring electricity and gas bills, rip-off landlords and housing problems – as the crazy capitalist system goes into crisis, things are getting worse for the vast majority of us. But through Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty and other grass-roots organising, people can join together to combat these problems and the profit-mad system which causes them.
Don’t suffer in isolation, don’t accept being ripped-off. Let’s join together to stand up for our needs. There is something we can do about these injustices – we have won many victories against the authorities.
Get in touch!
