mm1 820x410 - A look at Surrey’s history and today’s tax climate

A look at Surrey’s history and today’s tax climate

Surrey is one of the historic counties of Britain. The most striking thing about Surrey is perhaps the Surrey county cricket club, one of the first cricket clubs in existence. Surrey began as a fishing hub during the time of the Semiahmoo, Katzie and Kwantlen people, and the agricultural landscape is ever so prominent today.

We start from the early modern age when the Tudors occupied Surrey. It was an age of prosperity for the county, with great castles built in those parts. It was an important industrial hub, previous known for its blooming cloth and textile industry. Later, the iron industry took over and contributed majorly to the local economy.

Surrey was governed by a county council in the 1800s under Newington area. It’s 11 districts were spread and scattered across. However it was not officially a city until the early 1990s, when parts of the county were recognized under the Greater London area.

Properties here are governed by council taxes, as is the case with the rest of Britain. In the 1800s, the land taxes were administered strictly in the county, with people ineligible to vote unless they had paid their due land taxes. Later on, the need for land tax assessments were removed with electoral registers coming in.

mm2 - A look at Surrey’s history and today’s tax climate

We turn our attention here to a recent announcement on council taxes in Surrey. In February 2018, the local council voted to increase council taxes by an astonishing 6% on average, meaning that each individual should pay up an additional GBP 1.53 a week. The announcement came after a legislation from the central government in the end of 2017 that allowed local councils to hike the council tax independently.

The key reason for the increase in Surrey council taxes was as a result of widening definite and a lack of funding from the central government. As a result, alternative means of increasing revenues had to be identified. Government funding to Surrey had reduced by a net total of GBP 200 million in a period of 7 years.

The local government however aims to lead infrastructure and development projects that are both sustainable and can increase future revenue streams. This should enable a situation where the council taxes can be gradually reduced to perhaps less atrocious levels. We believe this is economically feasible.

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