Rates Demand

[Miss Take]

Surely rates should be linked to how much you earn and the square footage (meterage?) of your house. Given the size of the island it makes sense that everyone pays a share of the facilities. I don't live in Douglas but I do use the NSC etc... There should be a way you can score what your priorities are for the rates - thus if you think that the horse trams are a waste of your rates then you would give that a low score relative to the other things on the list. That would be a clear and democratic way of allocating funds.

 

And everyone's rates would go sky high from employing all the council staff needed to administer the system...

 

You get a discount for single occupancy under the council tax system, but only if you know about it - serves me right for not reading the leaflet.

[Katman]

Surely rates should be linked to how much you earn and the square footage

 

Why should rates be based on what your earn?

 

I think rates should be based on an average household whatever that is and a discount is given for less occupiers than average and an increase if there's more than the average.

 

Problem is how would you administer it?

[evelyn]

We live in a 3 bed semi in Scotland and at the moment we pay £190 Per month for community charge so the rates on iom don't sound that bad

[triskelion]

I think that there seems to be more and more levels of beaurocracy (?), local government and "snivel serpants" (Civil Servants), as my Granny calls them !!!, all with very vague job titles, huge pensions and little else to offer.

 

Well that's it, I'm getting fed up now just thinking about it. I propose that "Cheeky Boy" puts his name forward for election, seems to have the right idea about taxation, except (and this is, again, just my opinion) splitting taxes between direct and indirect, just keep it simple and have one "tax".

But Cheeky Boy specified a needed for direct and indirect taxes so that it doesn't weigh too heavily on the poor, which would be the case if you have a single income-based tax.

 

Do you have any evidence for these 'more and more levels of beaurocracy'?

[kevster]

Re- NSC usage that out of Douglas people have been mentioning - I though that it was paid out of central government funds and not Douglas rates (possibly the N in NSC gives that one away!)

 

The only thing I really don't like paying my (Douglas) rates for is the Horse Trams. All other 'heritage' stuff is paid by the Government, so why not those?

 

Compared to family members and friends in the UK who live in similar sized houses - my rates are nothing compared to their council tax. And, in most cases, the actual services provided are better.

[manxblue]

I think that there seems to be more and more levels of beaurocracy (?), local government and "snivel serpants" (Civil Servants), as my Granny calls them !!!, all with very vague job titles, huge pensions and little else to offer.

 

Well that's it, I'm getting fed up now just thinking about it. I propose that "Cheeky Boy" puts his name forward for election, seems to have the right idea about taxation, except (and this is, again, just my opinion) splitting taxes between direct and indirect, just keep it simple and have one "tax".

But Cheeky Boy specified a needed for direct and indirect taxes so that it doesn't weigh too heavily on the poor, which would be the case if you have a single income-based tax.

 

Do you have any evidence for these 'more and more levels of beaurocracy'?

 

Just one question "triskelion", are you a Civil Servant ?.

[cheeky boy]

I've always wondered why rates are linked to properties at all. So you have three toilets, you still only have one arse. Should be per head, not per house.

 

Might have an idea there: A tax based on arses

 

The more arseholes in a house the greater the tax

[Overdose]

Wow, could you imagine the size of Keyboarder's rates..... it'd be phenonminal.

[triskelion]

Just one question "triskelion", are you a Civil Servant ?.

Here we go again; if I'm not part of the hysterical masses I must be an inside agent.

 

Of course, why should you bother to address a baseless assertion and a questionable tax plan on your part when you can just make a self-gratifying ad hominem attack?

[monasqueen]

Just one question "triskelion", are you a Civil Servant ?.

 

Doubtful - he uses far too many big words

[keyboarder]

A beaurocracy - now that sounds like a nice system to live under. We probably wouldn't mind not having a vote.

[Albert Tatlock]

Just one question "triskelion", are you a Civil Servant ?.

Here we go again; if I'm not part of the hysterical masses I must be an inside agent.

 

Of course, why should you bother to address a baseless assertion and a questionable tax plan on your part when you can just make a self-gratifying ad hominem attack?

With an answer like that to a yes or no question...

[Skeddan]

Given the size of the island it makes sense that everyone pays a share of the facilities. I don't live in Douglas but I do use the NSC etc...

Apart from who funds the NSC, given the size and population of the island, it seems amazing to me there are all these Councils and districts. The place is the size of a smallish city/district (Christchurch NZ has total pop. of 100,000 and covers a similar area with only one council - divided into different wards).

 

Yes, it makes sense to have different wards / sheadings and representation from these, but it seems to me the historic divisions of this nature have grown to be something much more like a lilliputian version of a large country. Does each manage its own rubbish collection, parks, beaches, libraries, parking, etc. and this is better than would be managed by a single local government body?

 

Maybe this works well, or makes sense in some way - but I don't really get it. Sorry to be dumb and ignorant - can anyone explain the benefit in a place of IoM's scale - other than perhaps as a job creation scheme.

 

No offence intended - just puzzled by it

[Lonan3]

Yes, it makes sense to have different wards / sheadings and representation from these, but it seems to me the historic divisions of this nature have grown to be something much more like a lilliputian version of a large country. Does each manage its own rubbish collection, parks, beaches, libraries, parking, etc. and this is better than would be managed by a single local government body?

 

Maybe this works well, or makes sense in some way - but I don't really get it. Sorry to be dumb and ignorant - can anyone explain the benefit in a place of IoM's scale - other than perhaps as a job creation scheme.

1. Anything is better than having services 'managed' by single local government body.

2. some of the smaller local gov areas combine to manage such things as refuse collection etc. The obvious example is the Garff Initiative, by which Lonan, Laxey and Maughold combine to organise things this way and get the job done cheaply and efficiently.

3. Douglas Corpy is beginning to see the sense of it - offering the facilities of the Noble's Library to residents from other parts of the island for a (IMO very reasonable) one-off fee.

4. On-road parking is, I believe, the responsibility of the DoT throughout the island - which is probably why its every bit as well-ordered as the roads themselves.

5. Parks are the responsibility of Local Gov - otherwise the DoT would have concreted them over or sold them off to developers long ago.

[Albert Tatlock]

Maybe this works well, or makes sense in some way - but I don't really get it. Sorry to be dumb and ignorant - can anyone explain the benefit in a place of IoM's scale - other than perhaps as a job creation scheme.

IOM Government employs around 8000 people - the whole beurocratic system needs auditing properly - from top to bottom.