IT'S that time of year again, when council tax becomes a subject for heated discussion.

In its present form it was hastily modified because of the outcry against the so-called poll tax. Subsequent governments and parties have had neither the nous nor desire to alter it.

It is almost totally unfair and is, like VAT, which has far out-reached its original intention, an indirect tax on wealth or spending power.

Why should council tax be based on the market value of home owners' property? Do the residents of a £100,000 house automatically use local amenities twice as much as ones in a £50,000 property?

And why should four people living in a house pay the same as two in an identical property?

May I suggest instead of a property tax, a tax based on the area occupied by a property with an element relating to the number of people living in it.

A large percentage of council tax paid by Burnley residents goes to Lancashire County Council which covers a large area and the biggest slice goes to education, which is also heavily subsidised from government-collected funds.

Families are eligible for tax relief and child allowance, continuing to a certain point in a child's life. I suggest that both should be stopped beyond, say, the third child.

MR R BRACEWELL, Ormerod Street, Worsthorne, Burnley.