[Updated 23/03/2013 - with a response from Bournemouth Council, and a correction]
Bournemouth Borough Council recently published their new page turner ‘A guide to your Council Tax 2013/14′. Now I know it doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, but it’s an important document for those living in Bournemouth – it’s the main way the Council communicates how it is spending their money and why it needs to collect Council Tax from them. With Council Tax bills ranging from £999 to £2997 per year this is no trivial matter – indeed the publication is required of local authorities by law.
Prominently on page 3 of this year’s guide there is a bar chart which “shows the Council Tax elements”:
Grossly inaccurate
Misleading
Except it isn’t really a bar chart because it is grossly inaccurate. In 2013/14 the actual Bournemouth Borough Council element of the Band D tax is 83.4%, but in the ‘bar chart’ the yellow section is only 57.4%. Really the 2013/14 bar chart should look something like this:
Spot the difference
