How about a Local Purchase Tax as opposed to poll tax or council tax ?

Answer 1

It is a good idea to have a purchase tax but not a local one!! one that is distributed to all areas, that way every council will get a fare share - anything is better than council tax - which is not at all fair.

Answer 2

It would never work simply because , as pointed out earlier, you would need shops and people spending.

My dept covers a large city with plenty of shops , however the council a couple of miles up the road covers largely residential areas whereas the one a few miles further still covers a rural area with few large shopping areas.

The more residential council has a larger population therefore costs are proportionally high but income would be less as there are less shops in the area to purchase from - services would suffer.

The rural council has one of the largest regions to cover in the UK, therefore costs are unavoidably higher but they would bring in less money than they do now to offset this cost.

At least now you pay to the council you live in, purchase tax would go to where you shop.

Answer 3

Sounds good to me, especially if each council can set its own local purchase tax. That being so, I'll be doing all my shopping in the borough with the lowest local purchase tax!

Come the Revolution!

Answer 4

Good idea, in that those who shop in the area will have no choice but to pay ...

HOWEVER, problem is that some Councils will set higher Tax rates than others ... so you will have shoppers driving miles to find cheaper prices ...

Also, needless to say, there are some places that have lots of shops etc. and will rake it in (eg London) whilst others will be lucky to have a couple of village stores (eg. North Wales) .