Petition Devolve the setting of income tax rates and collection to the County and Local levels

The handling of income tax lacks transparency and accountability. Under the principal of subsidiarity, the responsibility for setting income tax rates, its collection and the subsequent use of the revenue should be decided and handled by a) County councils - for infrastructure and services relevant to the county level, e.g. secondary schooling, county police - and b) Local councils for local infrastructure and services, e.g local street maintenance. Under this proposal central government will only be responsible for handling tax for national infrastructure and services, e.g. armed forces. Each County and Local council sets tax rates to cover its agreed budget. Implementing such a proposal would increase accountability & transparency at the county and local levels regarding tax revenue. In addition it would promote competition between counties and local councils to offer cheaper tax rates to encourage people to come and live in their counties or towns.