Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/130 (page 15)
    The rates of Native Authority direct taxation are determined by the Native Authorities themselves but require the approval of the Chief Commissioner. Special rates of up to £4 for men and £2 for women have from time to time been imposed by a few Native Authorities. The proceeds of such rates are applied to particular projects of public interest. Other sources of Native Authority revenue include Native Court fees and fines, fees and tolls (e.g. at markets and lorry parks), licence fees (e.g. for palm wine sellers, palm tree cutters and hawkers), interest on investments, and grants in aid from the Central Government. A tax is levied by certain Native Authorities in the Northern Territories on immunised cattle. In the four municipalities and in the area of the Obuasi Sanitary Board the basic source of revenue is a rate on immovable property. The rates on the annual rateable value are : Accra 2s. 6d. in the £ Cape Coast 2s. „ „ „ Sekondi/Takoradi 2s. 6d. „ „ „ Kumasi 2s. „ „ „ Obuasi 3s. 6d. „ „ „ on net value after deduction of 33£ ► per cent of gross value for mainten¬ ance. All local government bodies are eligible for grants-in-aid from the Central Government. In the financial year 1950-51 £684,502 was disbursed for this purpose and £797,310 was provided in the estimates for 1951-52. Grants to Native Authorities are made available in three block allocations to the Chief Commissioner of the three regions, and their amount is decided primarily by the amount of direct tax raised by the local authorities of the region, i.e. by their capacity for self-help. There is a further grant designed to assist areas of naturally limited resources. Grants-in-aid to municipal and similar authorities are more closely related to services provided. Figures of Native Authority and Municipal Finance will be found in Appendix V. Under the new Local Government Ordinance which is dealt with in more detail in Part III Chapter III, all local authorities must levy a basic uniform rate and in addition may, with the approval of the Minister of Local Government, impose graduated rates on possessions ; these rates will be payable by Europeans and others not previously liable to pay Native Authority rates. It will be open to the Minister to extend to any local authority area the system of rates on immovable property (a practice at present limited to the municipalities). District Councils will derive their basic revenues by precept on the Local and Urban Councils. All Councils are to be eligible to receive from the Central Government grants-in-aid for services provided. Subject to the approval of the Minister, they may raise funds by borrowing. Outside the Northern Territories the powers of all Councils, municipal as well as local and urban, will extend to the management of the lands owned, and at present administered, by traditional authorities, and the resources from these lands will be shared between the local authorities and the traditional authorities ; adequate provision must be made for the maintenance of chiefs and their retinues.