Of the 10,200 parish and town councils in the country, 8,900 impose tax bills on residents. Across England, parish and town precepts make up 2pc of all council tax receipts.
Benjamin Elks, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group, said: “Local taxpayers will be absolutely furious with the scale of tax rises from parish councils.
“While town and parish councils have an important role to play in communities, it cannot be right for them to impose uncapped, inflation-busting tax increases, particularly when families are already dealing with a cost of living crisis.”
Andrew Dixon, of campaign group Fairer Share, said residents faced a postcode lottery of tax rates.
He added: “The rapid growth in parish council tax reflects wider strains across local government finance. As funding pressures intensify across the system, more costs are being pushed on to increasingly localised tax bases.
“The result is a patchwork system where households face very different tax bills depending on local governance structures rather than ability to pay.”
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “We have maintained the previous government’s policy of not setting tax limits for parish and town councils and we will continue to review this position each year.
“We are clear that councils should protect taxpayers from large rises and ensure any increase is justified.”
