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Local Government Finance

That is one of the reasons we would urge Ministers to match our council tax freeze, instead of saying that they want to see council tax raised when people can least afford it. The settlement is part of a broader failure by the Government to work with local authorities. Under the Government, they have faced extra burdens, not just from top-down diktat, but because they have been able to spend less of their money as they would have wanted. That is one of the reasons for the pressures on council tax. In 1996-97, 22 per cent. of local government revenue expenditure was financed through council tax, but by 2006-07, that had risen to 26 per cent.