Councils going after mortgages for unpaid rates, collecting millions

Councils enacting the Local Government (Ratings) Act are collecting millions of dollars of unpaid rates directly from the owners’ mortgages in the last 12 months.

“We’ve seen some of the steepest rates increases in the last 30 years—and you want to kick them while their down?” said Sam Warren, Local Government Campaigns Manager for the Taxpayers’ Union.

“These increases have been one of the main drivers in a sustained cost of living crisis, dragging out with little end in sight. Claims that this is to reduce the burden of those staying afloat misses the point—cut the waste and reduce the rates.”

“Councils are so distracted by a massively broadened scope that they have forgotten they work for the ratepayer, who now rightly expects them to get back to the basics; roads, pipes and rubbish.”