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| Link to The Economist |
"Even modest investments in local infrastructure, such as tram routes and suburban railways, are currently approved in [Whitehall] and paid for out of central taxation. Business rates (property taxes levied on firms) are put into a central pot and redistributed according to need.
"Under the city deals, Greg Clark, the cities minister, wants local authorities to keep any growth in their business-rates revenue. They can borrow against this 'uplift' to build critical infrastructure, which, in theory at least, [our emphasis] ought to provide enough revenue over time to repay the loan.
"This funding method, known as tax-increment financing, is common in America, but has never been tried in British cities."
We say: There is nothing 'critical' to Britain's infrastructure about expanding Brent Cross shopping centre, with its living bridge of more out-of-town shops, but Barnet Council has tried this scam already (a financial scandal of the 2020s, when all those concerned have moved on?)...
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| Link to a 2011 posting (with links to other press stories) |
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