Rates (Hansard, 7 March 1986)

§ Mr. Nicholas Edwards

Had the transition to the proposed new system of local government finance begun in 1984–85 each adult would have been assumed to pay a community charge of £50. The yield from the charge would have been used to cut domestic rate bills by about half or approximately £100 per domestic hereditament.

Had the community charge replaced domestic rates entirely in 1984–85 the average charge per adult would have been £105.

The impact of the changes on households of different size, at the Wales level, is shown in tables 1 and 2. The effect of the changes in Gwynedd alone is shown in tables 3 and 4.

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Table 3.
Local Domestic Tax Bill in First Year of Transition: Gwynedd County Area
Number of adults in household (1)	Existing average rate bill (2) £	Community charge (£50) per adult) (3) £	Reduced rate bill^* (4) £	Total local domestic tax bill (col. 3 and 4) (5) £	Percentage change from existing rate bill (6) per cent.
1	185	50	98	148	-20
2	185	100	98	198	7
3	185	150	98	248	34
4	185	200	98	298	61
^* 47 per cent. reduction in average rate bill.

Table 4.
Local Domestic Tax Bill had Rates been completely replaced by the Community Charge: Gwynedd County Area
Number of adults in household (1)	Existing average rate bill (2) £	Community charge (£ 106 per adult)^* (3) £	Percentage change from existing rate bill (4) per cent.
1	185	106	-43
2	185	212	15
3	185	318	72
4	185	424	129
^* The community charge in Gwynedd is about £10 lower when the income from second homes is taken into account.

Notes to tables:

All the tables illustrate the impact of the proposed changes had they occurred in 1984–85. The local tax figures shown are before rebates: those on low incomes would receive assistance with their local tax bills. In the case of Gwynedd the figures reflect the Impact of the safety net grant at the local authority level.