One of London’s richest councils is trying to issue letters to the richest residents for a voluntary additional donation that will be utilised for social initiatives in which the young, the homeless and the lonely will be provided with help.
‘Guilt tax’ as the media has termed, has been introduced after the Westminster City Council on December had a discussion about the social initiative and received major support.
The Council has said that letters will be sent to 15,000 wealthy residents with the most expensive properties having worth of about 10 million pounds and above. The recipients of the letters will be will be asked if they will be willing to readily double the taxable amount of around £800 that they pay every month to the council tax.
Councillor Nickie Aiken, leader of Westminster Council said: “The voluntary Westminster community contribution offers a fair way for those who want to contribute more to do so.
“I decided to act on a growing number of requests from some residents who live in the highest valued homes that they wanted to voluntarily contribute more than their existing council tax.
“I am delighted that so many people want to support the initiative in its first year. It also confirmed what I had heard from people I had met on the doorstep that those in the more expensive homes are willing to contribute more to community projects.”