Rates are supposed to pay for services, like schools, hospitals, roads, buses etc. What relevance has the unimproved value of a block of land got to do with the amount of rates to be paid?
There should be no difference between the rates paid by a family in the inner suburbs to one in the outer suburbs because the families in each location use the same services.
Rates should be levied on a more user-pays basis.
Being in my 70s, why should I still be paying for schools? I should, however, be paying more for hospitals.
Similarly car registration and third-party insurance should be abolished and replaced with a local tax on petrol so that the amount you pay would be less for a fuel-efficient car and if you drive less.
Why should a retired couple in a small old house in the inner suburbs be forced out by rising rates, which is what will happen?
Why should a small house attract the same rates as a McMansion next door with a five-car underground garage?
A rates system based on unimproved land values is simply a way to grab more money. The whole system is archaic.
Dave Roberts
Dickson