COUNCIL tax, that hardy perennial, has raised its colourful head again, and stories about it will bloom brightly throughout the dark days of the winter.

The first shoots appeared this week with the news that the revaluation of house prices on the basis of which the amount of council tax we pay is calculated has been shelved until after the next General Election.

Given the rumours that revaluation would hit the middle classes in their pockets, the delay is hardly a surprise.

What was unexpected was the announcement, at the same time, that Sir Michael Lyons, who was to have produced a report in December telling us how the money to pay for local council services could more sensibly be found, will not be doing so for at least another year.

The delay is a pity, because local government funding is a mess. Most of the money comes in from Government grants. This reduces local councils' independence, which is humiliating.

And grants can play havoc with budgets and council's good names, when governments, as a matter of policy or whim decide to reduce them and so council taxes rise steeply, or services are cut, to cope with the shortfall.

It does need sorting soon.

The delay is because Sir Michael now not only has to look at how councils are funded, but say what they are actually for.

You may think they are not for anything, apart from spending your money, and that's a point of view .

What I don't like are the words used by David Miliband, the local government minister announcing this addition to Sir Michael's remit.

"We want a clear and complete picture of what we want local government to do, before we tackle how it will be funded."

He didn't say he wanted a picture of what local people wanted their representatives to do, but what the Government wanted.

That paints a picture of more management of local affairs from London and less local independence. And that alarms me.