Rates revolt

Heads up. A new campaign website against the profligate rises in rates theft around the country seeks your attention: NoMoreRates.Com. Says the site:

This website is the ‘headquarters’ of a campaign to get rid of the present system of charging council rates. The campaign has two objectives:

1. 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.
2. To develop a system of restraining council expenditure to levels which the community approves of, and which the community believes it can afford.

I'm in favour of half of the second point, the part that mentions restraint, and of the entirety of the website's name. Arguably, the chief reason for rates to have escaped the leash is that councils were taken off the leash in the Local Government Act amendment five years back. As I said at the time, the idea that councils should be granted a "general power of competence" to do whatever they wish will be paid for was "fascist in its reach," and ratepayers would be picking up the tab for many years to come. I do hate saying I told you so.

LINK: NoMoreRates.Com
Rates on the rise - NZ Herald
'No!' to more council powers - Peter Cresswell, Scoop (August, 2001)

TAGS: Politics-NZ