So pensioner Donald Harris is sick and tired of pensioners moaning about council tax and says he "gets by fine financially" and has a reasonable standard of living (Letters, October 18).

That doesn't detract from the fact the current tax system is biased, favouring the well-off at the expense of the poor. That's why pensioners are up in arms, as well as the low paid.

For example, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has three homes and pays council tax on just one. The State - us - pays the tax on the other two, on his behalf, despite his annual salary being more than £160,000.

Tony Blair has a £3.6million house in Connaught Square, London, which is in band H, for properties worth more than £320,000.

His salary, including perks, outstrips that of Two Jags and is supplemented by his wife's substantial income.

They pay £1,236 council tax for their house, while some pensioners on far more modest incomes and living in rabbit hutches by comparison, are, in many cases, paying more in council tax than the Blairs but from an income only a small fraction of Tony and Cherie's joint one.

Small wonder MP for Hove and Portslade Celia Barlow - whose basic salary (£59,000), with expenses, could well exceed £100,000 - has refused to present Parliament with an Is It Fair? petition calling for fairer tax laws (The Argus, Oct 17).

-John Turner, Peacehaven