TAXDODGERS cheated York out of £6.5 million last year, shocking new figures reveal.

City of York Council should have collected £57 million in Council Tax from households during 2003-04.

But it only raked in £53.3 million - a shortfall of £3.7 million, or 6.5 per cent.

The proportion of council tax avoided increased from 2.6 per cent in 2002-03 - the third biggest of any council in England, according to government statistics.

The city's treasury department also asked for £64.9 million from businesses but only clawed in £62.1 million - missing £2.8 million.

Council chiefs use the money to help fund vital frontline services, including education, social services and road maintenance.

Hambleton collected 99.1 per cent of its Council Tax - the fifth best performance in the country. It missed only £300,000 of an expected £33.8 million. Ryedale's collection rate increased from 98.5 per cent in 2002-03 to 98.7 per cent in the year to March. It was due to rake in £20.9 million.

Selby Council brought in 96.1 per cent of its predicted £28.4 million, compared to 95.7 per cent a year earlier.

Scarborough's collection rate remained constant at 97.2 per cent.

But council chiefs in Harrogate only brought in 98.3 per cent - a slight fall from 98.6 per cent in 2002-03.

The council tax collection figures were released by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The national average for collection across England rose from 96.4 per cent to 96.5 per cent.

Nationally, councils brought in £15.99 billion by March - but missed out on £600 million.

Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford said: "Local authorities across England have worked hard to achieve further improvements in council tax collection rates.

"The money they collect for council taxes is vital to the delivery of good quality public services, whilst unpaid taxes create an unfair burden for those who do pay."

Mr Raynsford added: "Half a billion pounds was still uncollected last year - that's a great deal of money that could have been spent on local services."

Hart Council in Hampshire had the best council tax collection rate at 99.6 per cent, while Hackney was the worst with 79.3 per cent.

A City of York Council spokeswoman said: "We are aware that our year-on-year collection rates went down in the last year. This is partly due to the implementation of a new computer management system, SX3.

"However, the money has certainly not been written off and we will continue to try to recover the money from those people who have not paid."

Updated: 10:18 Thursday, June 24, 2004