Council Tax
Committee in council confidence risk warning
Confidence in councils to provide vital services is at risk of being damaged, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has said in a damning report released today.
We need a more nuanced conversation around trust
Ben Page says that while trust in central Government has fallen in both Britain and the US since the 1960s, the problem is not new, or acute. It is chronic - and was there 'as money poured in under Blair' and is 'still there as money pours out'.
It's time for a radical rethink on exit payments
The Treasury's proposals for a cap on exit payments need a radical rethink - and ministers must also rapidly address a shopping list of more important issues for districts, says Ian Miller..
Labour report calls for radical tax and planning reforms
Replacing council tax and business rates are among the radical policies proposed in a report commissioned by the Labour Party.
Scottish councils need more power - think-tank
Scottish local government needs a ‘renewal,’ a think tank has urged, with directly elected mayors and complete control over council tax and business rates.
Experts call for revenue-boosting internet tax
Green credits and an internet transaction tax could provide valuable new revenue streams for local government, MPs have been told.
Business rates relief control call
District councils have called for full control over the business rates relief that is awarded in their area amid claims that it is ‘unnecessarily generous’.
Council tax system needs 'fundamental reform'
The council tax system is ‘highly regressive and unsustainable,’ and needs ‘fundamental reform,’ progressive think-tank IPPR has argued.
We need a real debate on local taxes
Piali Das Gupta argues that we need a more sophisticated balance of local revenue sources for local services that would reduce the pressure on any individual tax or set of taxpayers. Many other countries do it – so what are we afraid of?
Press pause on fair funding review
Crippled by austerity and uncertainty, councils are financially paralysed and facing failure. Heather Jameson says it's time to press pause on the fair funding review until central government decides on the amount of cash for local government.
‘Smart bins’ and tax cuts could help increase recycling rates - report
Local authorities could use ‘smart bins’ and council tax cuts to help drive up recycling rates in their areas, a new study has suggested.
Localised council tax support schemes six years on
Stuart Adam and Thomas Pope of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfS) estimate a quarter of the additional council tax liability created by cuts to council tax support is not being collected, causing problems for households and councils.
London councils unite to reveal pockets of poverty
Deven Ghelani outlines how a collaboration involving 18 London boroughs has resulted in a data analysis showing poverty hotspots and how councils might better support families and households under pressure.
Whitehall pledges to end aggressive council tax debt collection
The way local authorities recover unpaid council tax is to be reviewed by the Government in a bid to protect vulnerable residents from aggressive debt collection.
Plea to fund social care through insurance
A minister has been asked to consider mandatory insurance to ease social care funding pressures in coastal towns.
Wales launches 'resident-focused' council tax reforms
Council tax debtors in Wales will no longer be at risk of imprisonment as part of a new initiative to encourage councils to take a more ‘resident-focused’ approach to debt.
Councils defend council tax hikes
Councils have had ‘little choice’ but to raise council tax to protect local services, the Local Government Association has said, after the latest tax rises were revealed.
A taxing problem
Heather Jameson looks at the latest report from the IFS’s Local Government Finance Commission, which suggests a local income tax would be the best option for fiscal devolution.
Waiting for Godot and the Social Care Green Paper
Public finances are outperforming expectations, but the post-spring statement briefing from the Institute for Fiscal Studies highlighted the need to sort out taxation and those other topics that did not get into the speech. Heather Jameson reports.
Steepest council tax rise in 15 years
The steepest climb in council tax in 15 years in Wales will take place in 2019/20, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has found.