Letter to the Editor: We are facing a large increase in our council tax in Ceredigion; but some of the information within your coverage (Paying more and getting less... Cambrian News, 18 March) is potentially misleading. You cannot make a valid comparison between different counties without also taking into account variation in the tax base. So the band D charge in places like Cardiff where house prices are high will be lower than many rural counties where the house prices are lower.

Within Ceredigion, every band D house will pay the same amount for Ceredigion Council. The variation between different communities highlighted in your table comes from the different amounts levied by the Town and Community Councils. But once again, the distribution of council tax bands in different communities needs to be taken into account. For example, in Aberystwyth council tax bands B and C are the most common; whereas in Faenor, it is council tax bands E and F, which are the most common. So our headline band D figure here in Faenor will be much lower than in Aberystwyth.

Finally, I have to point out the effect of Aberystwyth University. When Tony Blair’s government first introduced university fees, they decided to soften the blow for students by allowing them to be exempt from paying council tax. A house in Aberystwyth containing five or more students pays NO council tax. That means that the non-student population living in Aberystwyth has to pay more per household to make up for the money lost from the student houses.

Chris Simpson,

Waunfawr