# What Is A "Council" In Australia And England? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923 "2010-03-09T23:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923/21 "2010-03-10T19:39:17Z")
There are different types of council, in England at least. Parish or Town councils, borough or district councils, county councils, “unitary authorities”. They do a lot of the actual work of government: indirectly running police and education authorities, running council housing, allotments, dustmen, markets, libraries, all that jazz. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923/22 "2010-03-10T19:44:26Z")
Thanks for the answers. In my two examples I gave in the OP, Judy (of Aussie’s _Prisoner_) was running a half way house, so she was alway trying to get council approval for selling things, and they were inspecting the house, making sure she had exit signs and such. So that sounds like a city department in America. Another time in the show, a prisoner was attacked while her family visited and the husband said, “This is disgraceful, I’m going to write my councilman about that.” So I guess that would have to be at a higher level. Like a state? It was set in Melbourne When Hyacinth (of England’s _Keeping Up Appearences_)said “The council’s raising taxes” I guess that could refer to a lot of things huh? ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923/23 "2010-03-10T20:38:51Z")
Depending on how long ago it was made, it might refer to “the Rates”, the Poll Tax which replaced it, or the Council Tax which replaced that in its turn. Most of these are/were taxes based on the value of one’s house (notional in some cases) ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923/24 "2010-03-10T21:12:43Z")
Old metal monsters Megadeth didn’t know what a council was when they covered The Sex Pistols’ _Anarchy in the UK_, mis-hearing “another council tenancy” as “other c\*nt-like tendencies”. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923/25 "2010-03-10T21:26:00Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Depending on how long ago it was made, it might refer to “the Rates”, the Poll Tax which replaced it, or the Council Tax which replaced that in its turn. Most of these are/were taxes based on the value of one’s house (notional in some cases) Yes, and in fact I don’t think the character could have been referring to anything else. Tax in the UK is either for the national government or the local authority, the “council”. Other tiers of government, the higher-level county councils or the lower-level parish councils, may receive some of the tax raised by the other tiers, but those are the only levels at which tax is directly raised. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923/26 "2010-03-10T21:46:27Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Another time in the show, a prisoner was attacked while her family visited and the husband said, “This is disgraceful, I’m going to write my councilman about that.” So I guess that would have to be at a higher level. Like a state? It was set in Melbourne No, same level. That would be the alderman who was elected to the ward or riding that make up the council. At a higher level he would write to his MP (member of Parliament) . > [@](#): > > When Hyacinth (of England’s _Keeping Up Appearences_)said “The council’s raising taxes” I guess that could refer to a lot of things huh? Generally people refer to council rates, not taxes. Council rates are levied as a % of the property value, or flat charge per property. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923/27 "2010-03-10T21:53:17Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Another time in the show, a prisoner was attacked while her family visited and the husband said, “This is disgraceful, I’m going to write my councilman about that.” So I guess that would have to be at a higher level. Like a state? It was set in Melbourne In Australia, prisons are run by the states, so a prison in Melbourne would be run by the State of Victoria. However, often people get confused about which politician they should write to. The husband should have been writing to his state member of parliament about a prison issue. If he did write to a “councilman” (i.e., councillor) about it, the councillor would have just passed the matter on to an appropriate MP. Federal MPs, state MPs and local councillors do that all the time in Australia, as I assume they do similarly in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923/28 "2010-03-11T11:12:21Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Generally people refer to council rates, not taxes. > Council rates are levied as a % of the property value, or flat charge per property. I don’t think your first statement is true at all for the UK anymore. We did use to refer to the rates, but as **Mk VII** says, we’re now on our 2nd replacement for the rates. Older people may still occasionally refer to the rates, but it’s pretty much universally ‘council tax’ now. As for the second, again, it’s not true for the UK (well, specifically for England), which is the context which would apply to the Buckets. The council tax is a flat charge per property, based on the band in which its value is assessed. It isn’t a percentage charge at all. ETA: I see that **penultima thule** is in Australia, where their answer may be correct, but it’s not for England/the UK which is where the Buckets are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-council-in-australia-and-england/531923.md?page=1)