Issue - items at meetings - Council Tax Base for Tax Setting Purposes 2022 to 2023

Issue - meetings

Council Tax Base for Tax Setting Purposes 2022 to 2023

Meeting: 09/11/2021 - Cabinet (Item 294)

294 Council Tax Base for Tax Setting Purposes 2022 to 2023 pdf icon PDF 159 KB

Report number:     CAB/WS/21/050

Portfolio holder: Councillor Sarah Broughton

Lead officer: Rachael Mann

 

Additional documents:

Decision:

Recommended to Council:

(14 December 2021)

 

That:

1.           The tax base for 2022 to 2023, for the whole of West Suffolk is 57,406.34 equivalent band D dwellings, and for each of the predecessor areas be: Forest Heath 19,455.81 and St Edmundsbury 37,950.53, as detailed in paragraph 2.6 of Report number CAB/WS/21/050.

 

2.           The tax base for 2022 to 2023 for the different parts of its area, as defined by parish or special expense area boundaries, be as shown in Appendix 3 of Report number CAB/WS/21/050.

 

3.           The Director (Resources and Property) be given delegated responsibility to make changes to the tax base figures as a result of any government announcements pertaining to local council tax support or any data updates relating to significant claimant increases, as detailed in paragraph 2.5 of Report number CAB/WS/21/050.

Minutes:

(Report number CAB/WS/21/050)

 

The Cabinet received this report which explained that the Council Tax base was the total taxable value at a point in time of all the domestic properties in the Council’s area. It was a yearly calculation and represented the estimated number of chargeable dwellings after allowing for exemptions and discounts, projected changes in the property base and after applying an estimated collection rate.

 

The Council Tax base was used in the calculation of Council Tax. Each authority divided the total Council Tax income it needed to meet its budget requirement by the tax base of its area to arrive at its band D Council Tax. This was then used to work out the Council Tax for properties in each of the other bands.

 

Orders had been laid allowing West Suffolk to harmonise the Council Tax of Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury over a period not exceeding seven years. Because of this, it was also necessary to calculate tax base figures for the areas formerly covered by Forest Heath District Council and St Edmundsbury Borough Council (the ‘predecessor areas’).

 

The key assumptions, as outlined within the report, had been set at a time when the impact of COVID-19 recovery and the end of the furlough scheme, were difficult to predict.  At this stage, very early data (taken from the first two weeks of October) was not indicating any spike in the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme numbers and therefore, minimal allowance had been made for any increase in claimant numbers.

 

Paragraph 2.6 of Report Number CAB/WS/21/050 set out the resulting tax base figure for council tax collection purposes for the whole of West Suffolk, expressed in terms of the number of Band D equivalent properties, which was 57,406.34. The tax base figure was analysed further across individual town and parish councils to form their tax base figures for the purpose of budget setting and determining the parish band D tax levels in each of those areas. The town/parish figures were set out in Appendix 3 to the report.

 

Recommended to Council:

(14 December 2021)

 

That:

1.           The tax base for 2022 to 2023, for the whole of West Suffolk is 57,406.34 equivalent band D dwellings, and for each of the predecessor areas be: Forest Heath 19,455.81 and St Edmundsbury 37,950.53, as detailed in paragraph 2.6 of Report number CAB/WS/21/050.

 

2.           The tax base for 2022 to 2023 for the different parts of its area, as defined by parish or special expense area boundaries, be as shown in Appendix 3 of Report number CAB/WS/21/050.

 

3.           The Director (Resources and Property) be given delegated responsibility to make changes to the tax base figures as a result of any government announcements pertaining to local council tax support or any data updates relating to significant claimant increases, as detailed in paragraph 2.5 of Report number CAB/WS/21/050.


 

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