What will your rates pay for in future?

The reason successive governments have steadfastly refused to reform the rating system is that rates are “Easy to collect and almost impossible to avoid”.

Labour spokesman Clayton Cosgrove gave the game away when he said, on NewstalkZB yesterday, “You can’t avoid [paying] rates”.

Cosgrove was commenting on the Labour Party’s policy of collecting Earthquake levies as part of council rates.

If this policy was ever implemented it would open the floodgates for all sorts of other central government services, including welfare costs,  to be collected through rates.

Join NoMoreRates and send in your comments on this outrageous proposal.
 

Comments  

 
0 #2 Roy Spillman 2012-05-19 19:10
give them a hand..they will take the whole arm!!!....allowing legislation like this to go through ; does give them the signal that if it works..ie that they were allowed to get it through..that they can make up other stealth legislation to clean us out.the parasites must be stopped.
 
 
0 #1 Council Watch 2012-01-29 00:52
Agreed David. It has become apparent that since the Local Government Act was introduced in 2002, central government has been offloading responsibility to local government and expecting ratepayers to pick up the bill. I guess it is a nationalised form of "user pays", but it has been done under the radar and left taxpayers feeling like the various Governments of the day have been doing a great job managing the national budget.
 

TWO Objectives

  • To replace the present system of council rates with a new, fairer system, which reflects both services provided and the ‘ability to pay’ of various sectors in the community.
  • To develop a system of restraining council expenditure to levels which the community approves of, and which the community believes it can afford.

David Thornton

Founder/organiser of NoMoreRates  is a
former North Shore City councillor, 
Community Board member, and former
member of the Auckland Regional Land
Transport Committee. David is a
frequent commentator on local
government affairs in both the
print and electronic media.