Mike Schofield of the Is It Fair? campaign examines council tax hikes and their causes.
Have you ever looked closely at your Council Tax (CT) demand to see who gets your money; what proportion they get, and what percentage increases have been added to the different elements since last year?
In what are known as two-tier Local Government areas, your CT will be shared out, in varying amounts, between the County Council; the District or Borough Council; the Police Authority; the Fire & Rescue Authority, and – if you have one – your Town or Parish Council. In Local Government jargon, the amount paid to each of these bodies is known as a precept.
Figure 1 (click to enlarge) shows a typical example of how the money is divided up in most places in the country.
[Note: If you live in an area with a single tier of local government, i.e. a Unitary or a Metropolitan Authority, or if you live in London, fewer bodies share the money. And, in a few places, the Fire Service charge is included in the County charge. Also - with a few exceptions - there are usually no Town or Parish Councils in single tier areas.]
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