P-05-1134 Cap all Welsh county council tax at 3%. A referendum of the public must take place to exceed 3%, Correspondence – Petitioner to Committee, 08.03.21

I would just like to reiterate what I have stated in the petition. Being under Lockdown since this time last year due to age and medical conditions

most of us have had to stay at home ( we have not been out apart from the Garden) thus incurring around 2-3 times the energy costs used for home heating and hot water and of course

as we are unable to visit the supermarkets for essential foodstuffs have been hit with a weekly on line shop delivery of £7 per week.

The expense of council tax regardless of income is a further Burdon that we (retired) have to endure regardless of the situation above or the pandemic.

People on low pay, retired people (regardless of income) and young people are struggling yet the Council tax still increases every year for less and less services.

14.1% in Conwy the last 2 years has hit our pensions and incomes hard. Despite the current climate we are expecting increase around Wales of between 3 and 9 % yet again.

The general income pay rises as you well know is around 1% yet County councillors and your organisation is expecting pay rises of around 3-5%

due to the ability of quoting and voting for their own pay rises. We taxpayers who pay the public sector do not have that luxury and those of us

who have paid full income tax for over 50 years (and no pay increases during 8 years of the 80's) are finding the costs of living in our homeland

is becoming too much.

People who are hard working and worked hard to provide free public services for all are being driven to despair. Despite this hard

work to enable them not to be a burden on the state and the fact many have their own homes, we are seen as a money pot by the Government and

have to consider downsizing the homes we have lived in for decades.

N Wales is not a healthy area to live due to the lack of industry/technology investment and it's blatantly clear many businesses are leaving the area and our young people following. However the population

is being replaced with more and more well to do retirees from outside of Wales (nothing wrong with that) buying and paying over the "normal local" costs for housing pushing prices upwards

and these new investors will (could) soon be a further burden on our public sector expenditure hence more c tax rises. The economy is collapsing and these rises are forcing us Welsh people out.

The cap on c tax is only one part of the measures needed to instil confidence in the government but effectively c tax is the big issue for ALL residents of Wales. Two people should

be able to enjoy retirement after a total of 90 years working (as in our case paying tax) without the thought of leaving their home due to ever increasing c tax rises which forces many to downsize and sell off to richer people from??

One final point:- Here in Conwy CC the public services have degraded to virtual non existent despite the 14.1% C tax rise. We pay 59 councillors over £2m per annum plus expenses

yet they are allowed to agree their own pay rise of 4% and increase c Tax by 3%.--This has nothing to do with the Covid-19 pandemic--it's just ???

Regards