Council rates are a property tax that provide the essential funding for the wide range of services and infrastructure a council provides to its entire community.
This covers most of the local services and infrastructure a council provides, such as:
- maintaining local roads, footpaths and street lighting
- managing parks, sports grounds and public swimming pools
- providing community services like halls
- operating planning and public health services.
The Local Government Act specifies rates are a tax, not a fee for a service. This is the same principle as the income tax you pay to the Australian Government. Just as your income tax is pooled to pay for services for the whole country (like defence and highways), your council rates are pooled to pay for services for the benefit of your whole local community.
This means your rates are not reduced if you do not personally use a particular service, like a local sports ground or a swimming pool. Just as you cannot ask for a refund on your income tax because you have not used a particular service.
To ensure transparency, every council is required to adopt and make public a rates and charges policy. The policy outlines the process the council will apply when making its rating decisions, and it must take into account the principle that rates are a tax. You can usually find this policy on your local council's website.
