"Three or four" people a year in Central Bedfordshire try to use the Magna Carta to get out of paying council tax

An original copy of the Magna Carta on display. (Photo by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

Only a handful of Central Bedfordshire residents try to use “Freeman on the Land” or similar groups to try to get out of paying council tax, a senior council officer has said.

The council’s website says the ‘Freeman on the Land’ movement, and similar groups, commonly believe that they are bound only by statute laws they consent to.

But being a ‘freeman’ does not exempt any person from paying council tax.

Charles Warboys, director of resources, told the Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee last week (February 15): “We do get three or four of those a year. They are people who claim that under Magna Carta they are exempt from paying council tax.

“That has absolutely no basis in law whatsoever, and they will be taken to Magistrates Court if they just continue to refuse [to pay],” he said.

A report presented to the committee said 8,800 residents had been summoned for non-payment by the end of the third quarter of the financial year.

Committee chair, councillor Ian Adams (Conservative, Flitwick) asked how confident the council is when declaring a resident as a “won’t pay” they aren’t actually someone who can’t pay.

Mr Warboys said: “We don’t just go straight to a court hearing or anything like that.

“There’ll be lots of reminders, there will be lots of invitations to any resident who is in arrears to contact the council and have an in-depth discussion about their situation.

“So that’s why I’m confident – because those discussions take place,” he said.

“I can’t obviously rule out that there might be some residents who can’t pay but who haven’t contacted the council. If we get no contact we have to progress, we have a statutory duty to collect the money.

“I can’t say that it never ever happens, but there are loads of opportunities for any resident who can’t pay to have that discussion with council officers.

“We are very reasonable to that and we would agree to phased payments and that sort of thing,” he said.