15. Strong Local Leadership - Quality Public Services paragraph 9.21 describes the situation as follows:
- Local taxpayers in parished areas can be subject to 'double taxation'. This happens where a service is provided by the parish rather than the principal authority, but the principal authority still charges taxpayers in the parish for the equivalent services it provides elsewhere. It can arise for more than one reason. In a district where a town is unparished, it can happen if the costs of facilities for residents of the unparished town are spread across the whole district, rather than being charged only to the residents of the town. Double taxation can also happen where a principal authority devolves or transfers a service to a parish, without a corresponding reduction in its share of the council tax bill.
The responses to NALC and LGA's request for information on double taxation and means of avoiding it, confirm the above stated position. Below is further analysis derived from the actual experience of councils as reflected by respondents in their replies. (See LGA Circular no 262/01 dated 24 May for details of what was requested.)
16. Double taxation most often occurs in districts where some areas of the district are parished and other areas are not. This can lead to services potentially being provided at two tiers in some parts of a district and only by one tier in the rest of the district. The parished/unparished split frequently occurs between the urban and rural areas of a district, with the town being unparished with villages being parished. Taxpayers may, for example, be paying for the service in their locality provided by the parish (funded through the parish precept they pay) as well as paying for the same service to be delivered in the non-parished area of the district through the council tax they pay to the district which is undifferentiated. Another way of describing this situation is that parishes are expected to pay the costs of a particular service in their locality while the district council bears the cost of the same services in the unparished areas.
17. Even where an area is totally parished, there can also be double taxation where some parishes within a district are providing local services funded through their precept, at the same time that the same services are being provided to other parishes by the district council.
18. Some illustrative examples are given below which have been drawn from the responses to the call for information:
A district council expects its parishes to pay rental, grass cutting and other maintenance costs for playing fields, funded from their precept. The equivalent costs in non-parished areas are borne by the district council. Residents in the parishes are contributing twice towards the facilities in different areas; residents in the non-parished area are contributing only once.
A parish upgraded their infants play area, with funding from the parish council, local residents and a contribution from the district council (one eighth of cost). The district council fully funds improvements to playgrounds in its non-parished area.
A county council asked all parish councils to contribute 50% to the construction cost of bus shelters in their areas, and to pay £250 annually toward the cost of cleaning and maintaining the shelters. In the non-parished areas, bus shelters are fully funded by the County Council. Residents in the non-parished area are paying for their bus shelters via the county precept and have no parish precept to pay, while parish residents are contributing twice, via the county precept and the parish precept that is included in their council tax bills.
A borough (district) has 15 parish and town councils; the main town is not parished. The parish and town councils bear the costs of recreation grounds, community halls, cemeteries and, with some exceptions, footway lighting. In the main town these are provided by the Borough. Residents in the 15 parishes are therefore paying for their local facilities as well as contributing to the same facilities in the main town via the council tax. The residents in the main town are not contributing to the parish facilities.
A parish maintains its burial ground by way of its parish precept. Elsewhere, including the adjoining parish, cemeteries are maintained by the county council. The residents of this community are paying twice for the upkeep of burial grounds and cemeteries.
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Published on 14 May 2002
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