TAX-DODGING in the borough of Ealing in the last financial year amounted to more than six million pounds.

The total was just shy of the £6.2m which the borough's former Conservative administration gave back to tax payers in the form of a £50 rebate in the run up to Christmas last year.

According to statistics released by the GMB workers' union, uncollected Council tax between April 2009/10 stood at £4.1million while non-domestic rates for the same period totalled £1.95million.

Among the 33 London boroughs, Ealing ranked 21st with £6.058million owed by households and businesses while the neighbouring boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham came third with £12.189m, Hillingdon eighth with £7.859m and Brent in 12th position with £7.094m owed.

The city of Westminster topped the poll with a staggering £28m yet to be recovered by the Council.

Paul Hayes, GMB Regional Secretary for London said: "Uncollected local taxes in 33 councils in Greater London amounted to over £247m in the last financial year. This level of uncollected local taxes can not be accepted at a time when there are deficits in the public finances which are giving rise to cuts in public services and job losses at a time of high unemployment."

The GMB are calling for the rules on payments to be changed to ensure it is virtually impossible to dodge property tax and want to clamp down on short-term tenants who evade payment until they have left a property which makes it difficult for the council to trace them.

A council spokeswoman said: "At a time when all councils' finances are under so much pressure it is even more important that they chase people who owe money and Ealing is one of the best performing boroughs in London for getting people to pay their council tax.

"However, if residents are genuinely having trouble paying we would ask them to contact us straight away and not to ignore the issue. We are always happy to offer people advice about any discounts or benefits they might be entitled to."