Ever wondered where the money you pay in tax goes?
Research from the Local Government Association reveals that for every £7 paid out in tax in your area, £1 goes to the local authority in council tax and £6 goes into the national pot through income taxes.
The LGA is launching a website - mymoneywenttowhitehall - which provides a breakdown for every local council area of how much council tax is paid per person, compared with how much is paid on national income tax.
The chairman of the LGA Sir Simon Milton says "all political parties are talking about giving more power to local people but a vital element of this debate must be about the level of control people have over the money they pay to fund these services".
"For every £1 a taxpayer pays in council tax, where they have a local vote on what they pay and how it is spent, they send £6 in income tax to Whitehall. Six times more money - but how many times less democratic accountability to the tax payer?"
International comparisons
"Every year, the amount of council tax people pay is the subject of powerful, real debate between citizens and their elected representatives. And yet income tax is the subject of a great deal less controversy", he says.
The calculations relate only to income tax, but if VAT, fuel duty and other national taxes, were taken into consideration, council tax makes up only a twentieth of the total national tax take.
The ratio of local to national tax varies significantly in different countries.
In Sweden and Germany, £1 is raised at local level for every £2 raised nationally. In France, three times as much tax is raised nationally than locally.
Council tax bills are projected to go up by around 4% this year, taking the average council tax bill for a Band D property in England to £1,373.
The government says there is no excuse for "excessive" rises in the charge. But the average bill has doubled since 1997.
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