The Treasury has confirmed water and sewerage rates will continue to be levied on a per-property basis, dismissing a move to charges based on the number of adult occupants or actual usage.
In a written Tynwald answer, Treasury Minister Dr Allinson stated the current system, based on a property’s rateable value, is retained for “administrative simplicity and stability”.
He said it enables revenue to be collected “in a predictable and efficient manner, without the need for intrusive data collection on household composition or usage patterns”.
Caution
Dr Allinson cited historical lessons, including the UK’s Poll Tax and the local opposition to the 2014 ‘Toilet Tax’, as reasons for caution.
“Any move toward a usage or occupancy-based model would need to balance fairness, affordability, administrative feasibility, and public acceptability,” he said.
While acknowledging limitations in fairness for single-occupancy homes, the Treasury confirmed “there are currently no active proposals to shift water and sewerage rates to a per-person or metered usage model for domestic properties”.
Metered charging is, however, used for some customers and future reviews may consider options for sustainable water use.