NoMoreRates.com

The nationwide campaign to replace the present system of council rates –

Founder – David Thornton

Media release     16th August 2013

[statement from David Thornton]

Mayor accepts challenge to review rating system.

Local tax is an option

In April this year, in a submission on the Auckland Council’s Annual Plan, I asked the Council to carry out a review of the Council’s rating system.

I appealed to the Auckland Council, which represents a third of New Zealand’s ratepayers, to take the lead in finding a new system based on equity and ability to pay.

Yesterday, in an interview on NewstalkZB’s Leighton Smith show, Mayor Len Brown announced that he wanted to carry out such a review as he realised that the present rating system is unfair.

He suggested that one option to explore was some form of Local Tax.

This is one of the options that NoMoreRates has proposed many times and I am pleased to see that the Mayor is taking up my challenge to give serious consideration to finding ways to relieve ratepayers of the burden of potentially huge future rates increases.

Local Taxes are widely used in many countries either as a local Income Tax or Sales Tax.

There are other options, many of which have been considered previously but have been rejected as being ‘too difficult’ when compared with the easy way of collecting money under the present valuation based property tax.

I have already raised my request for a review of rating with mayoral candidate John Palino who has expressed concerns about the unfair rating system.

I intend to make a formal request to the new Council after the election for an immediate start to a review of the rating system.

ENDS

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