Rates in the United Kingdom

Rates are a tax on property in the United Kingdom used to fund local government. Business rates are collected throughout the United Kingdom. Domestic rates are collected in Northern Ireland and were collected in England and Wales before 1990 and in Scotland before 1989.

Domestic rates

England

Rates had their origin in the Poor Law Act 1601, for parishes to levy a poor rate to fund the Poor Law, although parishes often adopted property rates to fund earlier poor law measures. Indeed, the Court of Appeal in 2001 called the rating an "ancient system", suggesting that it had medieval origins.

As local government developed, separate rates were collected by parish authorities, borough corporations and county authorities. The County Rates Act 1739 ended the practice of separate rates being levied for individual purposes, such a highway rate and provided for a unified county rate.

Rates on residential property were based on the nominal rental value, reassessed periodically in revaluations. By the Rating and Valuation Act 1925, revaluations were supposed to take place every five years but in practice they were frequently delayed or suspended. Revaluations took place in 1928/1929, 1934, 1956 (but based on 1939 values), 1963, and 1973. A revaluation due in the early 1980s was scrapped by the Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine in June 1979, with Heseltine urging householders to tear up the forms already sent out by the Valuation Office.

Rate

Rate may refer to:

Science and finance

Human growth

Other uses

Rates (tax)

Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government. Some other countries have taxes with a more or less comparable role, for example France's taxe d'habitation.

Rates by country

Australia

Local government authorities levy annual taxes, which are called council rates or shire rates. The basis on which these charges can be calculated varies from state to state, but is usually based in some way on the value of property. Even within states, individual local government authorities can often choose the specific basis of rates - for example, it may be on the rental value of property (as in Western Australia) or on the unimproved land value (as in New South Wales). These rateable valuations are usually determined by a statutory authority, and are subject to periodic revision.

Canada

Rates are referred to as property taxes in Canada. These taxes are collected primarily by municipal governments on residential, industrial and commercial properties and are their main source of funding.

Rates (Póvoa de Varzim)

Rates (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʁatɨʃ]) is a Portuguese parish and a former township located in the municipality of Póvoa de Varzim. The population in 2011 was 2,505, in an area of 13.90 km². The township has records dating to the 13th century and, still today, it preserves landmarks such as the townsquare and a well-preserved and notable Romanesque temple.

History

Rates is a medieval township that developed around the Monastery of Rates, established by Henry, Count of Portugal in 1100 AD on the site of an older temple dating to the 9th century or earlier and with sculpture elements dating to the Roman empire. A Roman road crossed near the monastery.

Rates naming seems pre-Roman in origin. The town gained importance due to the legend of Saint Peter of Rates, mythical first bishop of Braga and martyr while attempting to convert Roman pagans to Christianity, becoming in a central place in the Portuguese Way of Saint James and the local myth was used by Braga archbishops to justify their primacy in Hispania.