It is reported that more than 2.5 million homes now have wheelie bins fitted with microchips; the official reason given is to allow for the weighing of contents, the reality is almost certainly to facilitate yet another dishonest Government stealth tax.

The spread of chipped bins, the numbers having increased by nearly two-thirds last year alone, comes just eighteen months after the Labour Government indicated that it has no intention of introducing such a tax.

They claim that bins are being chipped for nothing more sinister than weighing their contents so as to provide a better disposal service; the same government also claimed that Iraq had “Weapons of Mass Destruction” you may recall.

In practice the technology allows the hoist mechanism fitted to bin wagons to read stored information, such as the bin owners address, from the chip and to record it together with the weigh of rubbish put out for disposal; it doesn’t require a brain the size of a planet to conclude that an individualised bill could easily be produced from the information gleamed.

Yet despite Government reassurances that they have no plans for utilising chipped bin technology for taxation purposes the fact remains that some 68 councils now provide bins with microchips; that’s around 20% of all UK local authorities.

If local authorities have no long-term intention of utilising this technology then why are they so furtive about their adoption of these devices on their bins; indeed, what’s the point of installing this technology at all?

In response to growing concern a spokesman for the Government’s Local Government Association (LGA) rather lamely claimed that the microchips were only fitted to bins to improve services to the public, for example by helping the elderly.

Elaborating further he said: “If an elderly resident needs help getting their bin collected and returned, a microchip quickly flags it up to the refuse collector, saving time and money.”

This is an “explanation” many find difficult to comprehend; it is also insulting to our senior citizens.

Interestingly, a spokesman for the Government’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said: “there are no Government plans to introduce microchips in bins.”

As it happens this statement is almost certainly true, as it isn’t the Government that is rolling out these “smart” bins but local authorities; the same people who will assume responsibility for this localised stealth tax when it is finally implemented.

Currently, local authorities derive their income largely from two sources – a charge on local homes and businesses, and a slice of the national tax cake awarded to them as a subsidy by the Government.

Levelling a tax on rubbish disposal will inevitably increase local authority revenues, allowing the Government, in turn, to cut back on their subsidies to local authorities.

It’s a win – win situation for both national and local government, but a lose – lose one for local council taxpayers and businesses.

This being doubly so as local council taxpayers and businesses already pay for rubbish collection; the “Chip and Bin” stealth tax will be, almost certainly, regardless of how they may sugarcoat this particular pill, in addition to that.

It is also a lose – lose situation for the environment as anti-social elements will inevitably seek to reduce their collection charges through fly tipping; a problem that has been blighting farms in close proximity to urban areas for years.

The Tories, opportunistic and unprincipled as ever, are now trying to make political capital from Labour’s “Chip and Bin” threat.

According to one of their leading lights: “Labour Ministers are secretly planning to roll out bin taxes across the country after the election if Gordon Brown can cling to power.

‘The Government have already forced through bin tax laws and have been funding the bin technology to collect the taxes.”

As though anyone seriously believes that the Tories won’t do exactly that should Cameron’s snotty public schoolboy gang win the General Election; an eventually by no means certain.

i say " regards stealth taxes as underhand and dishonest, totally inconsistent with open government.

It also advocates a root and branch reform of taxation, placing more emphasis on taxing what we spend and less on what we earn.

Furthermore, i say " is in favour of low taxation, not least for the practical reasons of encouraging free enterprise and stimulating the economy.

It also recognises the link between high taxation and Big Government; the latter has to be cut back down to size and there is no better way to achieve that than by curtailing its insatiable appetite for our tax money.

“Chip and Bin” – just a rubbish stealth tax; the chip should be in the bin – not on it.