Surrey Comet readers have backed the decision to keep council tax frozen for the second year running.

Kingston Council will accept a £2.1m Government grant to keep the amount pegged at 2010 levels, despite the risk of swingeing cuts to services in coming years.

The majority of people who voted in this newspaper’s online poll, 41 per cent, supported the authority’s decision, which could lead to a double tax rise next year or far-reaching spending cuts.

However 39 per cent of readers in the poll said Kingston’s council tax, which is the highest in London, should have gone down.

Commenting on the Surrey Comet website Foo Bear wrote: “Kingston Council is an outrageous waste of public funds. The tax should have been cut two years ago by at least 15%.”

This risk of accepting the freeze was recognised by 17 per cent of readers in the poll, who said council tax should have gone up.

Another person, calling himself Prince Philip of Greece, wrote on our www.surreycomet.co.uk: “Taxation is the subscription we pay to live in a fair and just society. Welfare cuts nationally will result in a greater need for welfare services locally.

“Since the richest 1% will not pay fair taxes (ditto, big businesses) it falls on ordinary council tax payers to make up the shortfall. Council taxes need to go up.”

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