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Posts Tagged council tax

Idea: Council Tax & Rent rebates / rewards lottery for Payers

May 27

Posted by roy in Efficiencies and Savings, Ideas | No Comments

There is an outstanding Council Tax and Rent debt. It costs the council to chase this debt.

An alternative may be to offer a cash lottery – effectively a rebate – for frequent payers. Anyone who pays in a given month (or else just by DD) would be entered into the draw. The cash sum would have to be significant but not so large as to remove the aditional revenue generated.

City of Edinburgh council have announced they are doing this for DD payers only. I think their problem might be that winning a year’s free CTax will not be an incentive to non-payers! It would be better to term it a cash prize instead.

 

 

From the Edinburgh website: 

Win One Year’s Free Council Tax!

 

 Five lucky winners will win one year’s Council Tax for free in a very special competition.

All customers who sign up to pay their annual bill by direct debit will be entered into the exciting prize draw – which will take the burden out of paying the bill for a whole year.

There is still time to be in with a chance of winning this exclusive prize as all customers signed up before 31 May will be entered into the draw for free.

Councillor Phil Wheeler, Finance and Resources Convenor, said: “With everyone leading busier lives nowadays, paying council tax by direct debit definitely saves time and effort. It is convenient too as payments can be spread over 10 or 12 months. I would like to wish all the entries in the prize draw good luck in winning this exciting and valuable prize.”

More and more people seem to be signing up to pay by direct debit every year as it is both safe and flexible. Customers can also choose from 4 payment dates in a month.

The Council stopped accepting cash and cheque for Council Tax at the start of the 2010/11 financial year. By receiving customer’s payments by direct debit, the Council can improve the service we provide as less time and money is spent processing payments.

For further information and to set up a direct debit log on to: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/counciltax or call: 0131 469 5000.

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Council tax rebates possible reward for citizens who help…

May 27

Posted by roy in Efficiencies and Savings, Featured, Ideas | 1 Comment

Lambeth council to offer Council Tax rebates to citizens who help run services.
The Labour-run “co-operative council” is trialling the idea which may be an election pledge for Labour at the next election. They are calling it a “John Lewis” council.

Lambeth has set up a citizens’ commission to consult residents over what services could be delivered collaboratively, and how those involved could receive an “active citizen’s dividend”, possibly a council tax rebate.

The council has launched a wiki website, on the model of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, where officials and residents can jointly write and edit policy ideas, which within hours gained its first contributors. Ideas are also being sought via Twitter and Facebook.

From the Guardian:

A key impetus to the new model was the prospect of swingeing funding cuts, said the council leader, Steve Reed, which left Lambeth – one of the UK’s most deprived areas – facing unpalatable options including reduced services or council tax rises. Earlier co-operative ventures such as tenant-managed housing estates and the transformation of a crumbling former comprehensive school into a community-run sport and culture centre showed there was another option, he said.

“What we hope is that this can actually produce more effective services for less cost. It’s not a universal panacea, but it’s a model we already know works. We don’t have all the answers, which is why we’re asking all these questions. But we do have an idea of the basic principles.”

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