Council Tax (Hansard, 17 March 2003)

§ Mr. Leslie

The cost to local authorities of collecting the council tax in England is estimated to be £319 million for the year 2002–03. The main cost to central Government is incurred by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) which administers the council tax valuation list and is a party to appeals. The VOA budget for council tax work in 2002–03 is about £14 million. Central Government also supports the costs of the independent Valuation Tribunals which hear appeals. The part of the Valuation Tribunals budget for 2002–03 relating to council tax work is approximately £0.7 million. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for the policy and legislation rather than the administration of council tax.

	Percentage increase in authority's own Band D council tax for:		Percentage increase in council tax for standard spendinga
	Inner London boroughs and City	Outer London boroughs	Shire counties	Shire districts	Metropolitan districts	Shire unitary authoritiesb	England	England
1994–95^c	12.2	5.1	6.3	7.4	0.9	—	2.1
1995–96^c,d	38.4	31.8		2.3	5.5	—	5.0
1996–97^d	11.7	5.1	4.1	6.7	6.5		6.1
1997–98	0.4	6.7	6.5	8.3	7.0	2.1	6.5	4.2
1998–99	0.3	6.0	11.9	7.0	7.6	7.8	8.6	7.0
1999–2000	2.8	7.9	8.3	5.1	5.1	5.6	6.8	4.8
2000–01	1.7	6.2	6.7	5.4	4.5	5.7	6.1	4.6
2001–02	6.6	6.2	6.3	6.3	5.3	6.1	6.4	5.1
2002–03	3.0	5.4	9.3	9.3	4.6	8.2	8.3	5.2
2003–04	e	e	e	e	e	e	e	3.7
¹ This is the increase in council tax assumed in the calculation of revenue support grant, calculated on a like-for-like basis. It does not represent an estimate of the level at which local authorities need to set their council tax. The Government does not estimate the level of council tax increases. Figures are not readily available by class of authority, or for England before 1997–98. Under the new formula grant system, the figure for 2003–04 is for the increase in assumed national council tax over the equivalent figure for 2002–03.
^b Shire unitary authorities did not exist in 1994–95 and 1995–96, other than the Isle of Wight in 1995–96, which may not be representative of the current class as a whole.
^c A major cause of the large changes in London between 1994–95 and 1995–96 was the large reduction between the two years in the amounts of council tax transitional reduction scheme grant paid to some London boroughs.
^d Like-for-like comparisons for shire counties in 1995–96 and for unitary authorities in 1996–97 are not available due to local government reorganisation. This is also true to a more limited extent for shire counties, districts and unitaries between 1995–96 and 1998–99, for which figures are generally given.
^enot yet available.