Southwark goes up 24 per cent while Tory flagship Wandsworth rises 32 per cent
Southwark goes up 24 per cent, while Tory flagship Wandsworth rises 32 per cent.Martin Pilgrim, head of finance for the Association of Metropolitan Authorities, says movements in rates correspond directly to Government funding levels. Barnsley, with terrible unemployment after pit closures is ranked as the 313th most deprived area, for government subsidy purposes,” he said.This year’s inflation-busting council tax rises form part of a trend. The larger London increases indicate bigger cuts there.Labour’s environment spokesman, Frank Dobson, claims much of the inequality between low-charging Conservative and high-charging Labour local authorities is down to a skewed formula for calculating central government grants. Mr Dobson says that the City of Westminster is ranked as the fourth most deprived area in the whole of England “No one in their right mind would believe the formula.
Hackney follows at pounds 855, with Manchester at pounds 838 and Bristol at pounds 871.
The average increase this year is more than double the rate of inflation, at 6.2 per cent. This takes the average standard rate (which covers most households other than single occupants) for band D to pounds 647 The London boroughs are set to rise still more steeply. Liverpool’s band D (pounds 68,000 to pounds 88,000) rate at pounds 1,006, is the first to breach the pounds 1000 barrier. ONE of the best ways of saving money on your council tax is to move.
If you tot up what band H (properties worth pounds 320,000 plus) taxpayers in the London Borough of Lambeth have contributed over the past six years, compared with their peers in neighbouring Wandsworth, the difference is enough to buy a car. The worst hit this year, as ever, are inhabitants of mainly Labour-controlled inner city areas. By yesterday, everyone registered and liable for council tax should have received their bill for 1996-97. That compares with the active funds, which tend to charge 5 per cent initially and 1 to 1.5 per cent a year.q Catherine Barron is personal finance correspondent at `Investors Chronicle’.. Legal & General runs the cheapest, with no initial charge and a 0.5 per cent annual fee.
The theory draws evidence from the performance of fund managers, and also from mathematical studies of price movements.If the efficient market theory does hold true for the UK stock market, then PEP investors could well be best advised to opt for index-tracking funds. The one with the most accurate tracking record is Gartmore’s. No fund manager can often be in the position of finding valuable information and acting before everyone else. It says that in developed stock markets, such as the UK’s, there are so many professionals digesting information that it gets almost instantly into the share price. Mr Bolton’s fund beat the index in 13 out of the 18 six-month periods.