7 Days in Prison for £53.71

Acrylic-bob · 27-09-2005, 05:09

Of course it should go without saying that the Law must be obeyed, but can it be right that the Law should imprison a seventy three year old woman for refusing to pay council tax arrears of £53.71?

Due to the idiotic way that the prison service is currently run Sylvia Hardy will only serve three and a half days of her seven day sentence. The cost of her stay as an unwilling guest of Her Majesty will be £336, roughly six times what she owes. Add to that the cost of the prosecution and you have to ask whether this is fair and reasonable.

What do members think: Is Sylvia Hardy a heroine who is bravely standing up for downtrodden pensioners, or a silly, stubborn old woman who should pay up and shut up?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...799327,00.html

WillowTheWhisp · 27-09-2005, 07:40

I admire her.

jambutty · 27-09-2005, 08:53

If the Law is breached against the state, establishment or any layer of government the miscreant will always be dealt with severely. Law breaches against the individual, unless they happen to be against the ruling classes will warrant unprecedented leniency.

If Sylvia Hardy had refused to pay a trader she would not be in prison. In fact I doubt if any of us would have heard about it.

The fact that the court stated that she should not be considered a heroine for making a stand is just a pathetic attempt to stop the idea from spreading.

In my book she is a heroine and the Law is a complete and utter ASS!

entwisi · 27-09-2005, 09:11

Whilst I agree with her principles you must be careful of the message that you give. Whether the rise in her CT was right or wrong it was legally applied and such she is breaking the law. If we were to say don't charge anyone who steals less than £50 the shoplifters would have a field day. She i s making a stand and by doing this is raising the profile of the unfair rises. However the profile was raised by her being brought to court. Did she need to go through with it and actually go to court? As it stands it is the good old taxpayer who is paying for her to be put in prison. That money could have quite simply have gone to better use. We moan at the gov for not spending enough on teh NHS yet we seem to be condoning someone wasting it.

harwood red · 27-09-2005, 11:10

I also admire this lady's stance but it is a difficult situation as they can't allow people to just refuse to pay. Why don't they just take the money in small installments direct from any benefits she receives eg. pension. I know we do this when someone defaults on their rent so why not for council tax???

DJLUKO · 27-09-2005, 11:20

i feel if u dont pay then you should go to prison or they will continue never paying and it will keep getting higher and higher.

chav1 · 27-09-2005, 11:23

i thinks she is right to do what she has done , most council tax raises are usualy due to the previous years incompitant spending of the idiots at the town halls

only pitty is it wont change a thing she will still owe the money when she gets out but good on her for trying

garinda · 27-09-2005, 11:25

It isn't really about the money, it costs far more to imprison people for crimes were there is no finances involved.

It always fascinates me the difference between freedom figters and terrorists. French resistance = goodies, IRA = badies, yet both were defending their countries from foreign invaders.

Mrs Pankhurst broke the law, she did the crime and paid the price. I admire her stance, but think she could have achieved her goal without actually going to prison.

Where will it end? In the 80's people witheld some of their taxes because they didn't want nuclear missiles paid for by their taxes.

chav1 · 27-09-2005, 11:34

in the 80's we had poll tax riots although in the long run we still ended up getting screwed

she made the mistake of refusing to pay

plenty of layabouts who say the will try to pay and owe thousands to the council tax but realy have no intention of doing so

wouldnt it be typical if in good old council style fashion they realise they have messed up on her claim and they actualy owe her money i wonder if anyone would go to jail for that

people who defend the couciltax/poll tax seem to forget that berfore thatcher introduced this tax a much cheaper system was in place but i wasnt 18 then but i think it was about £100 a year per household

can somone help me out here lol was it called rates or somthing

cashman · 27-09-2005, 11:47

well i admire the woman, its alright for someone to burgal your house,or beat you up the chances are if this is a first offence they will either get community service or get tagged. whilst the law is sacrosant- it is a complete ass,to give the message that a old women who has never been in trouble in her life is WORSE that these people.

chav1 · 27-09-2005, 11:59

wasnt it only last week an elderly gentlman went to prison over council tax it showed him getting carted away to prison on itv news

seems like the old folk are having thier own revolution and good on them for standing up for what they believe in many of our elderly have lived through much harder times than us and have every right after years of paying taxes to stand up and say enough is enough

Bazf · 27-09-2005, 12:30

You know there was a lot less trouble in the middle ages when the Lord of the manor made the rules and just flogged the peasants, I say burn her at the stake and make an example of her.

Crapper · 27-09-2005, 13:04

Well she did break the law.

Margaret Pilkington · 27-09-2005, 13:29

I admire the woman....she is standing up for her principles....her pension has not gone up in line with the price rises of the Council tax...and she actually could pay the money, and other people have offered to pay the money for her....but she wants to go to prison to prove a point. The point is that the council tax is an unfair tax that doesn't take into account the ABILITY to pay. Local income tax would be fairer.

Margaret Pilkington · 27-09-2005, 13:29

It is something that I could see myself doing.