I know what I’m about to say is not the norm, but here it is: taxes are good. Taxes pay for stuff. Without taxes, what do we have? No support, no schools, a dismantled society. Here’s another good thing: honesty.

When South Gloucestershire Council announced they were freezing their council tax, I thought, how can they pay for stuff? How, in this world where costs are rising, where, penny by penny prices are rocketing, can less tax mean we can keep our services? Perhaps, I wondered, there is a plan, maybe some lateral thinking. Turns out none of this is happening.

See, South Gloucestershire Council are proposing now to charge for the garden waste green bin collections. £36 per year, to be precise.

It is an opt in fee - and it creates so many issues. First, the fact that people can decide if they want to pay the charge will mean many will opt out. Second, this is a tax, if not in name, then in looks. And third, it’s dishonest. A council cannot say that they are freezing tax only to re-introduce it via the back door.

One obvious question is what happens if people do not pay this green bin fee. When people choose to opt out, where will their waste go? To landfill. And what then could the council say when that happens? That people were given the option to recycle and they chose to say no.

Yet the biggest danger, the thing that the council must stop and consider is this: where does it end? If we introduce charges that are to all intents and purposes, tax, where do we stop? Do we charge for books at school? For each GP consult? For every time we call an ambulance, like a pay-per-call system?

If you think that’s okay, consider this: in the Republic of Ireland, if someone calls the fire brigade, then that caller is charged for the call. So the result? People let the fires burn.

The council say that the surplus created by charging could help protect libraries, but we shouldn’t be held to ransom. Tax provides services we need. So charge them. Charge us our taxes and be honest about it.

Because then, not only will we have a better understanding of what the council does, but we’ll also have something else for them: respect.