Local tax for local people
A fantastic piece in the Evening Standard today by Jonathan Freedland on the fairest way to reform council tax. [Can't find a link as yet.]
He responds to leaks suggesting that Sir Michael Lyons’s soon-to-be published review of local finance will add bands to the top end of the council tax scale, adding as much as £4,400 to some people’s bill.
Freedland is spot on when he talks of council tax reform as a ‘third rail’ - instant political death for any politician who champions it and as a result, long overdue.
Bravely, he champions a policy from the 2005 Liberal Democrat manifesto – local income tax – as the solution.
I remember studying this through an early-morning alcoholic fug at Cardiff Journalism School, recognising it as a good idea in principle, but flawed due to the disparity in collectable income between poor and rich councils.
But Freedland imports an idea from the US: redraw municipal boundaries so that no one area can be exclusively rich or poor. Redistribution of funds would be managed locally, without need for costly and time-consuming involvement on the part of the Treasury.
But when the Lyons report comes out - undoubtedly amid considerable middle class outrage - what politician with an ounce of nous is likely to grasp the live rail?
Not one who wants to keep his seat at the next election. QED.
A fantastic piece in the Evening Standard today by Jonathan Freedland on the fairest way to reform council tax. [Can't find a link as yet.]
He responds to leaks suggesting that Sir Michael Lyons’s soon-to-be published review of local finance will add bands to the top end of the council tax scale, adding as much as £4,400 to some people’s bill.
Freedland is spot on when he talks of council tax reform as a ‘third rail’ - instant political death for any politician who champions it and as a result, long overdue.
Bravely, he champions a policy from the 2005 Liberal Democrat manifesto – local income tax – as the solution.
I remember studying this through an early-morning alcoholic fug at Cardiff Journalism School, recognising it as a good idea in principle, but flawed due to the disparity in collectable income between poor and rich councils.
But Freedland imports an idea from the US: redraw municipal boundaries so that no one area can be exclusively rich or poor. Redistribution of funds would be managed locally, without need for costly and time-consuming involvement on the part of the Treasury.
But when the Lyons report comes out - undoubtedly amid considerable middle class outrage - what politician with an ounce of nous is likely to grasp the live rail?
Not one who wants to keep his seat at the next election. QED.
Labels: council tax, jonathan freedland, local income tax
posted by Rob Davies at 9:03 PM
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