Letter to the Local Council, Councillors, MPs. and Police. It has come to our attention through the research of many diligent men and women, men and women who see the present system as one of ‘forcing’ Inhabitants of the Borough of Bolton to pay for something they are not obliged to pay for. It would appear that Council Tax is both unlawful and illegal. The local council, ‘Bolton Council’, claim their authority for demanding council tax is from the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (LGFA 1992). The council claim that the LGFA 1992 gives authority to demand tax on ‘Dwellings’ and that Inhabitants of the Borough live in ‘Dwellings’, so the Inhabitants MUST pay council tax for the very fact that they live in ‘Dwellings’ in Bolton. Please take note of words in bold italics. LGFA1992 section 1 Council Tax; 1 Council tax in respect of dwellings. (1)As regards the financial year beginning in 1993 and subsequent financial years, each billing authority shall, in accordance with this Part, levy and collect a tax, to be called council tax, which shall be payable in respect of dwellings situated in its area. [F1(2)In this Part “billing authority” means— (a)in relation to England, a district council or London borough council, the Common Council or the Council of the Isles of Scilly, and (b)in relation to Wales, a county council or county borough council.] (3)For the purposes of this Part the Secretary of State may make regulations containing rules for treating a dwelling as situated in a billing authority’s area if part only of the dwelling falls within the area. If we look at the meaning of ‘Dwelling’ in the LGFA 1992, section 3 of the act says; 3 Meaning of “dwelling”. (1)This section has effect for determining what is a dwelling for the purposes of this Part. (2)Subject to the following provisions of this section, a dwelling is any property which— (a)by virtue of the definition of hereditament in section 115(1) of the M1General Rate Act 1967, would have been a hereditament for the purposes of that Act if that Act remained in force; and (b) is not for the time being shown or required to be shown in a local or a central non-domestic rating list in force at that time; and (c) is not for the time being exempt from local non-domestic rating for the purposes of Part III of the M2Local Government Finance Act 1988 (“the 1988 Act”); If we now look at the interpretation of the word hereditament in the General Rate Act 1967 (GRA 1967). 115 Interpretation (1)In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings respectively, that is to say— ” agricultural land ” has the meaning assigned by section 26(3) of this Act; ” charges”, in Part VI of this Act, includes fees and expenses; ” clerk “, in relation to any authority or body, includes any officer of the authority or body authorised by them to act on their behalf either generally or in relation to any particular matter; ” the Commissioners ” means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue; ” dwelling-house ” means a hereditament which, in accordance with Schedule 13 to this Act, is used wholly for the purposes of a private dwelling or private dwellings; (3)A hereditament which— (a)is a composite hereditament for the purposes of Part III of the 1988 Act; and (b)would still be such a hereditament if paragraphs (b) to (d) of section 66(1) of that Act (domestic property) were omitted, is also, subject to subsection (6) below, a dwelling for the purposes of this Part. (4)Subject to subsection (6) below, none of the following property, namely— (a)a yard, garden, outhouse or other appurtenance belonging to or enjoyed with property used wholly for the purposes of living accommodation; or (b)a private garage which either has a floor area of not more than 25 square metres or is used wholly or mainly for the accommodation of a private motor vehicle; or (c)private storage premises used wholly or mainly for the storage of articles of domestic use, is a dwelling except in so far as it forms part of a larger property which is itself a dwelling by virtue of subsection (2) above. (6)The Secretary of State may by order amend any definition of “dwelling” which is for the time being effective for the purposes of this Part. As of today July 2013 this section of the LGFA1992 has not been amended. If we now look at the above mentioned LGFA 1988 to find the interpretation of hereditament, section 64; 64 Hereditaments. (1)A hereditament is anything which, by virtue of the definition of hereditament in section 115(1) of the 1967 Act, would have been a hereditament for the purposes of that Act had this Act not been passed. (2)In addition, a right is a hereditament if it is a right to use any land for the purpose of exhibiting advertisements and— (a)the right is let out or reserved to any person other than the occupier of the land, or (b)where the land is not occupied for any other purpose, the right is let out or reserved to any person other than the owner of the land. (3)The Secretary of State may make regulations providing that in prescribed cases— (a)anything which would (apart from the regulations) be one hereditament shall be treated as more than one hereditament; (b)anything which would (apart from the regulations) be more than one hereditament shall be treated as one hereditament. [F1(3A)The Secretary of State may make regulations providing that where on any land there are two or more moorings which— (a)are owned by the same person, (b) are not domestic property, and (c)are separately occupied, or available for separate occupation, by persons other than that person (4)A hereditament is a relevant hereditament if it consists of property of any of the following descriptions— (a)lands; (b)coal mines; (c)mines of any other description, other than a mine of which the royalty or dues are for the time being wholly reserved in kind; (8)A hereditament is non-domestic if either— (a)it consists entirely of property which is not domestic, or (b)it is a composite hereditament. (9)A hereditament is composite if part only of it consists of domestic property. (10)A hereditament shall be treated as wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes at any time if at the time it is wholly or mainly used for the sale of goods donated to a charity and the proceeds of sale of the goods (after any deduction of expenses) are applied for the purposes of a charity. (11)In subsection (2) above “land” includes a wall or other part of a building and a sign, hoarding, frame, post or other structure erected or to be erected on land. [F4(12)In subsections (3A) and (3B) above “owner”, in relation to a mooring, means the person who (if the mooring is let) is entitled to receive rent, whether on his own account or as agent or trustee for any other person, or (if the mooring is not let) would be so entitled if the mooring were let, and “owned” shall be construed accordingly.] Up until now you may have noticed, no mention of private ‘DOMESTIC’ property being liable for ‘rating’ or ‘council tax’, unless part only is used wholly or mainly for business. We can now see what the LGFA 1988 section 65 says;
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:20:21 +0000
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