Here is your real Council Tax Bill

It's that time of year when your Council Tax Bill lands on your doormat.

Last year Bristol City Council had to spend £200,000 of our money correcting a simple "typo" on the Council Tax Bill that very few people actually read properly. They didn't make the same mistake this year, so that is £200,000 we won't have to spend this year.

The headlines said: "Bristol City Council to raise tax by 4.99%", which might lead you to think that you will be paying 4.99% more this year, but actually your bill will increase by 5.02%

So why does this matter?

There's not much difference between 4.99 and 5.02, but whilst 4.99% is the actual increase in our Council Tax Bill for the element that goes to the Council, there are payments for the Police and Fire services that increase the cost we actually pay to 5.02%.

Here is my bill for a Band C property:

You cannot see the 4.99% figure anywhere, because the Council have chosen to display the increase using one decimal place, rather than two. This means the Bristol City Council increase of 4.99% is rounded up to 5.0%

Tony Dyer never talked about a 5% increase, but always a 4.99% increase. This is a common psychological pricing method called "Charm Pricing".

You cannot see the real monetary increase to the bill because the Council have chosen not to show what you paid last year. If you didn't keep your Council Tax Bill from last year, then you won't actually know how much your bill has increased by.

Which is easier to understand: "Increase of 5.0%", or "Increase of £115.38"?

It's all about clarity and transparency. If the Council aren't explaining our Council Tax bills properly, then are there other things they aren't explaining properly?

My Design for a "Better Council Tax Bill"

This is my design for my Council Tax Bill:

By showing the monetary amounts from last year, I can see the real increases.

By showing the increase percentages to two decimal places, I can see where the "4.99%" figure comes from.

I have changed the order of the "Services" from highest to lowest as this is easier to read and is the "natural" way of presenting different elements of a bill.

The Police Council Tax leaflet does a much better job of explaining the real increases and shows clearly that I will be paying £13.34 more a year for the Police services.

The Avon Fire and Rescue leaflet only shows the increase for a Band D property, but at least this example helps to illustrate the increase and the annual cost.

Plain English Campaign

Bristol City Council have been awarded a "Sliver" rating by the Plain English Campaign for having "at least 25 documents with the Crystal Mark".

BCC should highlight the documents in their library, so we can identify the 25+ documents that have got the Crystal Mark. As of today there are 6,374 documents in the library.

Perhaps BCC could aim to get a "Gold" rating in the next 12 months.

I have created Council Tax bills for all of the bands, which you can see below.

I think they would get a "Crystal Mark" from the Plain English Campaign Group.