Courts always find jail space

The jailing of a 75-year-old ex-serviceman for refusing to pay his council tax is shameful. And yet it is only the tip of an iceberg of resentment building across Britain.

Richard Fitzmaurice was sent to prison for 32 days by magistrates in King’s Lynn for not paying £1,300 council tax.

In these days of overcrowded prisons, only the worst of assaults, robberies and murder merit a spell behind bars. And yet somehow the system can make space for elderly ladies and gentleman who look at their council-tax demands and decide enough is enough.

It is a cardinal principle of taxation that the level of tax should be related to the individual’s ability to pay.

That is why the fairest of all taxes is income tax.

But Chancellors are terrified of increasing income tax. That is why, rather than admit the realities of his grandiose spending, Gordon Brown has hammered us with more than 70 stealth taxes.

Council tax is the biggest and baddest of these. It strikes hardest at those on fixed incomes, especially pensioners.

It is driving a growing number of these good, honest people to rebellion - and who can blame them?

Council tax causes untold anguish. That anguish will soon be multiplied many times. The latest Government plan is for an annual levy based on the assumed value of every home.

Some pensioners like Richard Fitzmaurice living in much-loved family homes will then face bills not of £1,300 but £3,000 or £4,000 or more.

How many will refuse to pay? How many robbers and rapists will be let out of jail early to make space for elderly council-tax defaulters?

Tony Blair’s legacy is the bloodbath of Iraq. Gordon Brown’s legacy could be prisons full of pensioners.

First-time buyers must show caution

Just when we think the house-price bubble cannot get any bigger or wobblier, along comes another factor to inflate it still further.

Today comes news that Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, is offering 125 per cent mortgages.

This will cover the cost of a new home plus stamp duty, legal fees and furniture.

The downside is that someone buying a £200,000 property will owe the bank £250,000. No matter how this is dressed up, it is instant negative equity, in this case to the tune of £50,000.

If property prices keep rising, all may be well.

But even a shudder in the market could see that £50,000 negative equity hit £60,000, £70,000 or more.

Getting a foot on the property ladder is all very well. But in the scramble to get a first home, some buyers should be reminded that ladders can go down as well as up.