Rates Reform Kicked Into Long Grass

It was a long running project in the previous administration, but it appears that the Cannan gov doesn’t have much of an appetite for continuing the work of rates reform in the short term.

Members asked Minister for the Cabinet Office Kate Lord-Brennan what progress had been made since a Tynwald resolution in October 2019 that accepted and approved a modernisation report.

Mrs Lord-Brennan said that following aerial photography being taken in 2020, the project had stalled as staff were redistributed to deal with the island’s Covid response. She told members that modernisation of the island’s rates system ‘needs to be considered as to where it fits amongst the immediate priorities for the Cabinet Office’.

These priorities include the response to Covid, developing the policy and planning required by the new administration and development and oversight of the, as yet unapproved, Island Plan.

Complex

Everyone who cares knows that this is a highly complex issue which will also be resource intensive if it is to be pushed over the line. However, Mrs Lord-Brennan’s answer seemed to suggest that this administration has little interest in it.

She said: ‘This means that it requires careful consideration and assessment as to its necessity and prioritisation at this time, alongside the significant challenges currently being addressed by the Government. It could be down the line that it is something Tynwald wishes to look at again and aim to examine and come to a view on.’

Thomas

Chris Thomas, who led much of the work in this in the Quayle gov, asked Mrs Lord-Brennan if the Cabinet Office shouldn’t be working with the Treasury to revisit rates modernisation and take into account the 19 components of the report which were agreed by Tynwald.

In response, she said: ‘I think that, given that there was another consultation that was proposed towards the end of the last administration to inform what the contents of legislation might be, and there are other points that were perhaps not included in that report – and I know that single-occupancy properties would be one of those. I think that perhaps it does need more consideration prior to rushing towards legislation.’

Island Plan

When Jason Moorhouse asked why rates modernisation hadn’t appeared in the Island Plan, Mrs Lord-Brennan said it was ‘not an issue that was raised strongly in engagement with members and clearly there is a need to address some of the core issues and that is what the Island Plan is seeking to do’.

Unfairness

Manx Labour Party MHK Sarah Maltby said one of the most unfair issues with the existing system is how it treats single occupancy housing and said she wanted any future consultations to look at this, as well as people living in care homes or long-term patients. Mrs Lord-Brennan didn’t offer much further on this, but did say she would say the existing info with Mrs Maltby

Commitment

Douglas East MHK Ann Corlett, having listened to the response from Mrs Lord-Brennan said she had a simple question for the gov, asking ‘is there a real commitment to progress rates modernisation’? This drew a remark of ‘no’ from Mr Thomas before the Minister was able to answer.

Mrs Lord-Brennan again reiterated that there are ‘lots of priorities’ in the (as yet unapproved) Island Plan but that if Tynwald had an appetite for it then there are ‘elements of it might need to be addressed’.