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The importance of local government within the UK has never been stronger, and this has direct implications as to the most appropriate method of financing this level of government. The council tax in Great Britain and traditional domestic rates in Northern Ireland represent the two primary sources of local government finance based on domestic property, which currently require significant reform. Weaknesses of the existing systems include the lack of buoyancy due to infrequent revaluations, horizontal and vertical inequities and the need to ensure that domestic property tax systems are seen to be fair. The paper makes a number of important recommendations which would enhance the acceptability and ultimately improve the operation of these forms of ad valorem taxation.

This paper evaluates on a comparative basis three different property tax systems, British, French and Swedish. For this purpose an evaluation model, based on two criteria – namely efficiency and fairness – and on a number of sub‐criteria, is used. A comparison of the systems’ efficiency reveals that the French system is the least efficient while the Swedish system is the most efficient. A comparison of the systems’ fairness shows that, despite significant variations in the systems characteristics, all three systems can be evaluated as relatively fair.

This paper seeks to examine the potential for simplified market value and non market value based banded approaches to be utilised for residential property tax purposes. The broad aim is to ascertain whether relatively low complexity approaches to establishing a property tax base can perform adequately in comparison to established best practice – in essence whether there is evidence of equifinality (equivalent performance from approaches of substantially different complexity) between simpler and more complex approaches.

The research comprises empirical analysis of a database of property sales and property attribute data drawn from a UK District Council area. Several simplified methods are used to create different tax base scenarios and the outflowing tax incidence is compared with that of using a complex, industry standard market value approach. The methods of comparison are regression and spline regression based models testing for tax inequity, drawn from the literature. The approach here differs from previous work in that it occurs at the actual tax bill level allowing the comparison of value, non‐value and banded approaches.

The findings of the research indicate that simplified approaches to establishing a property tax base can perform in a broadly similar fashion to more complex systems currently practiced in developed economies and therefore evidence of equifinality exists.

The research provides useful tools to property tax policy makers and practitioners in developing and transitional economies in furthering their aspirations of embedding robust property taxes for the furtherance of socio‐economic and political development and the general wellbeing of society and they are of value to property tax policy makers and to academics in the field.

The paper provides evidence of the efficacy of simplified and banded approaches as an option for jurisdictions in developing and transitional economic circumstances or elsewhere in circumstances which mitigate against full scale appraisal of the property tax base to discrete market values. The approaches and techniques pioneered open up opportunities to carry out a range of new comparative analysis of tax base options.

Since 1993 the UK has used a “banded” property tax as opposed to discrete values for the assessment of residential property. Explains both the advantages and disadvantages of the system. In addition, summarises the main results of empirical research into the use of banded property values which have been unaltered for ten years. In summary, aims to present findings on the continued operation of this unique system, highlighting strengths and weaknesses and its viability/applicability in other countries and jurisdictions in the light of empirical evidence based on the analysis of open market transactions. Discusses both the assessment and administration process and, with the analysis of sales data, demonstrates the importance of regular and frequent revaluations of the tax base in order to ensure a reasonable level of both vertical and horizontal equity. Speculates on the potential application of a banded system of property values in other countries, in the light of the advantages of the banded system which could lend themselves to jurisdictions where an ad valorem system of land taxation is inappropriate; where resources are limited in terms of experienced valuers, or where the availability of technology to undertake mass appraisal would provide added advantages. Concludes by drawing together recommendations in relation to how the system in the UK can be improved and makes recommendations for policy‐makers in other jurisdictions.

Alongside public agencies and private firms, non‐profit organizations (NPOs) play a vital role in the delivery of human services in a number of advanced nations. The purpose of this paper is to advance a theory of leadership to try to explain how NPOs can overcome the various forms of voluntary sector failure described by Salamon.

Examines the conditions under which leadership style is likely to prevail and the influence they are likely to have on the direction of local government reform.

Advances a theory of leadership to better understand this problem and its implications for public policy.

Adds to existing literature by demonstrating that leadership can ameliorate some kinds of voluntary sector failure.

Successive devolved governments have been attempting to address inequalities which are deeply rooted in Scotland, by adapting UK policies or by devising their own solutions. In addition, from 2007, Scottish National Party (SNP) governments have criticised the policies conducted at UK level – especially the austerity policies in response to the Recession from 2010. They have demanded further powers to be able to mitigate or reform them, thus adding a constitutional dimension which has been reignited after the referendum on Brexit. This chapter deals with some of the policies aiming at tackling inequalities related to incomes and capabilities in the fields of education and health. It sheds light on the ongoing debates in Scotland and on some of the results which have been achieved under SNP governments.

Jim describes the chaotic administration of Housing and Council Tax Benefit in wealthy South‐East England today. He doesn't detail his feelings and the impact on his aspiration to work again. The Welfare Reform Bill contains absolutely no reform whatsoever on Housing Benefits. How can the Government believe they are tackling disincentives to work where a change of benefit name (not even a month in work) takes eight months to resolve?

Editorial As organizations age, habits become custom, responsiveness declines innovation suffers, and that certain spark or sense of purpose is lost. Change management issues are high on most public sector agendas worldwide. Some managers may attempt rejuvenation with a one‐off programme of major change, seeking the right answer through rigorous analysis of the facts, trusting the power of planning and budgeting. Structures and personnel may change, but efforts often fail to overcome old ways and entrenched power groups. It may be, of course, that the “right” strategy does not exist, and that even if it did, ageing companies may be too insular to recognize it.

This paper presents new evidence that the error in estimating the economic welfare of a transport scheme can be very large. This is for two reasons. Firstly when cost changes are large the income effect can be significant. This means the change in consumer surplus is no longer a good estimate of the compensating variation — the true measure of welfare benefit. Secondly, in the presence of large cost changes estimating the change in consumer surplus using the Rule of Half can lead to large errors. The paper uses a novel approach based on stated choice and contingent valuation data to estimate the size of this error for the situation of the provision of fixed links to islands in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

Business process re‐engineering can be a very effective tool for introducing cost‐effective changes into an organisation to the benefit of the organisation and its customers. The article reports on the introduction of “One Stop Shops” into a UK metropolitan local government organisation commenting on the success of the venture and the problems encountered in introducing a new competency based pay structure for front office staff.