Dear Editor - Could I point out an error in the report on page five of last week's Western Telegraph, headlined 'Band D council tax set to rise'.

The report says "the council's tax base has been set at £49.8 million."

This is doubly wrong. Firstly the tax base is measured in band D equivalent properties, not pounds and secondly, the correct figure is 49.8 thousand not million.

It also reported that the Leader, Cllr John Davies, told the Cabinet the tax on a band D property has gone up from £569 to £591 - a rise of 3.85%. This is correct, but, because it ignores the effect of last year's rebanding, it is also rather misleading.

In fact, as a result of the rebanding exercise that took effect on April 1st 2005, the county council's tax base (the number of taxable units) has risen from 45,512 to 49,848 (9.5%)

This means the council would collect an extra 9.5% in council tax even if the band D rate remained unchanged.

Next year the council expects to collect £29.45 million in council tax compared to £24.66 million in the year prior to rebanding, an increase of almost £5 million.

In percentage terms, that represents a 19% increase compared to a rate of inflation over the same two year period of less than 5%.

Hardly the shining example of financial prudence that the council's propaganda machine would seek to portray.

Mike Stoddart Court Farm Liddeston Milford Haven