More council revenue sought

Press, 14 August 1976, Page 9

More council revenue sought

Local authorities would like a share of taxation revenue so that all wage earners, including young people who did not own land, c.ould make some contribution towards the running of the city, said the Mayor (Mr H. G. Hay) during a panel discussion at an Institute of Management meeting on Wednesday evening. This would put a greater reliance on the taxpayer than on the property owner and therefore on people’s ability to pay, he said. “We want a share of taxation revenue — a fixed percentage distributed on a basis of population or capital value, or in the sum of subsidies related to work done.” Everyone believed that the base of the city’s source of finance should be broadened, said Mr Hay.

i “Most councils agreed that there should be a source of revenue based on income and not only on rates.” There would still be a major reliance on rates on property. This was logical as councils moved increasingly into the fields of social welfare and recreation — areas which had no traditional relationship to the amount of property owned compared with drainage or reading — but the reliance would not be exclusively on rates, he said. Mr Hay said he considered that the local authorities petroleum tax, which totalled about $950,000 this ytar, was an equitable form of tax which enabled young drivers to make a contribution to council funds, especially as so much of the council expenditure was related to cars and reading.