Local councils want more tax-raising powers: NRC

Local councils want a ‘substantial’ expansion of their tax raising powers to offset the cost of government cutbacks, the NRC reports on Friday.


The government is cutting spending on care services, boosting employment and social security by transferring responsibilities to local government.
But without more money, there is a serious risk councils will not be able to take over all the work because their own sources of income are drying up, the paper says. For example, the slump in the housing market has hit sales of building land.
Thirteen large local councils, including Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, have written to the prime minister urging him to take action. In particular, they want an independent body to judge conflicts between local and national government over cash.
‘As things now stand, there is a real risk that some councils could go bankrupt over the next few years,’ Eindhoven executive Staf Depla told the paper.

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