More confusion - exactly what has Levitt repaid?

Shortly after writing the last post, we turned our attention to another document released today on the parliament website. This is a list of exactly who has repaid what - Levitt appears on page 16 of this PDF.

Looking at the document you'll note that he has repaid £412, as today's Legg report made clear. But in the 'comments' column at the end, we learn what this is for:

Two months inadvertent over claim of Council Tax in two consecutive years.

Now you may remember that the issue of Levitt overclaiming £407.60 for his Council Tax was discovered and first brought to the attention of the world by this website last June.

So the questions that now flow from this are:

• Has Levitt repaid anything towards the sofa bed overpayment identified by Legg?
• If he has, then why hasn't it been accounted for by Legg?
• If he hasn't, what the hell is he playing at?

There really is no point in looking to us for the answers when all of the official information seems so hopelessly confused...

Local media picks up the Council Tax story and a new, national story

All the local papers have picked up our "Council Tax over-claim" story today: you can read the Buxton Advertiser version here, and the Glossop Advertiser version here. The Glossop Chronicle's version - the only publication that gives credit to this website for breaking the story - is not yet online.

Levitt's explanation for the over-claim? That is was (another) 'mistake' - albeit one that he didn't make before 2006/2007 - and the money has now been 'repaid'. Standard fayre for any chiseling MP in our opinion.

Also hinted at in the Buxton Advertiser is a story from the Times about Levitt's use of his Communications Allowance which will return to summarise ourselves in due course.

Levitt over-claimed for his Council Tax

Yesterday, the Telegraph looked at how some MPs have claimed more for Council Tax on their expenses claims than the Council Tax actually costs. Today, we can reveal that Tom Levitt can be counted amongst those MPs.

In the original Telegraph article on Levitt, he tells us he bought his current 'second home' in Lambeth in early 2005. Looking at Levitt's claims for Council Tax from the April 2005 tax year and also the spreadsheet of his claims we placed online, we can compare them with the Council Tax rates in Lambeth which can be found in a PDF on this page:

• 2006/2007 - claimed £1200.00, actual Council Tax £1004.40 (an over-claim of £195.60)
• 2007/2008 - claimed £1267.32, actual Council Tax £1055.32 (an over-claim of £212.00)

When one looks at Levitt's claims for these years, it's immediately clear that something is wrong: Council Tax is payable over 10 months (or 40 weeks) from April of each year through to January of the following year, yet Levitt has claimed for 12 months. Looking at the 2007/2008, the first 10 months of his claim add up to £1055.32, which is the same as Band C Council Tax in Lambeth.

We've no doubt that Levitt will put this down as a 'mistake', yet we all know that a Council Tax Bill make it perfectly clear the amount that is due each month for 10 months, with payment schedules being clearly printed.

When the Telegraph publish full details of all MPs' expenses on their website this coming Tuesday, we'll see whether or not Levitt has continued this practice for the last financial year.