I READ Ernest Dry's letter (March 1) with a growing sense of despair. Pensioners tend to have the nation's sympathy because of most people's perception of them as a poor, fragile, forgotten and exploited group.

But most are intellectually alert and have the time and energy to promote their cause. No doubt the growing campaign in the papers will lead to some sort of dispensation for pensioners; but do they really deserve it?

The problem I have with Mr Dry is not his underlying complaint, that council tax is having a crippling effect, it is that it should apply to all levels of society, not just pensioners.

Who does Mr Dry think will pay for his "alteration in favour of pensioners"?

As a single working man of 32, on a slightly below average income, with no children, I don't have to look very far to see where the axe will fall.

However, in many ways I'm in less of a position to pay than the hard-done-by pensioners.

With house prices at their present levels I have little chance of getting on the lowest rung of the housing ladder and higher council tax rises will compound the problem.

In my old age, Mr Dry, I face the prospect of living in rented accommodation, with no return on the money I ploughed into the benefits system as a young man.

So, forgive me if I don't feel too much sympathy as you sit in your Band E (four or five bedrooms for two people?) house.

G Hughes,

St. Saviourgate, York.

Updated: 11:18 Wednesday, March 10, 2004