28 September 2001
Giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament's local government committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the future of council finance, CIPFA chief executive Steve Freer said that at least half of local authority spending should be financed locally. Currently, the proportion was only about 20%, which severely constrained local autonomy, he said.
The most straightforward way of achieving a funding shift would be to return the business rate to local authority control.
The institute is also backing a property revaluation for council tax and a review of the banding system. The bands, it states, are not sufficiently sensitive to ensure that people receive similar bills for similar types of homes.
PFsep2001
