Taxpayers owe the council more than a million pounds in unpaid bills from the last year.

Although Sutton Council has an above average 98.6 per cent tax collection rate, a pressure group says it is unacceptable that people who pay their taxes are left to foot a £1.3m bill caused by people and businesses not paying up.

Sutton Council expects to collect 98.6 per cent of the £96.5 it was owed for the 2012/13 tax year. Sutton's collection rate has been steady for the last three years and is above the national rate of 97.8 per cent but the Taxpayers' Alliance has called on it to do more to make sure those who pay their taxes are not unfairly punished.

Jonathan  Isaby, political director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: "Whilst the collection rate in Sutton may be above average, this is no reason for the council to rest on its laurels.

"Local residents expect the council to be aiming to collect everything that is owed to it because any cash that goes uncollected increases the bills for those who are paying what’s due.

"It remains unacceptable that more than £1 million a year in council tax is going uncollected in the borough."

For 2011/12, Sutton, alongside Kingston and Richmond councils had the highest collection rates in outer London at 98.7 per cent. Surrey Heath had the highest collection rate in the country at 99.5 per cent.

Councillor Jayne McCoy, chairwoman of Sutton Council's housing, economy and business committee, said: "We are still in the process of reconciling our year end accounts but our 2012/13 in year target collection was 98.6% and we expect to achieve this.

"Our award winning revenues and benefits team work exceptionally hard to maximise council tax payments and take appropriate action where needed to follow up on people who fail to pay on time."