VPRS 377 Rate Books

Every year each local council is required to make and levy rates in respect of all rateable properties within its municipal district. The Municipal Institutions Act 1854 (No.26) empowered local councils to make by-laws for the regulation of their own proceedings including the collection of rates. The amount of rate is therefore determined by the council although a statutory limit applies. Rates are the main source of revenue for the council.The rate record is a record of the levying and payment of rates on rateable properties. Apart from the general rate which is levied equally on all properties, a council may levy an extra rate or a special rate. An extra rate may be levied, over and above the general rate, on a subdivision of a municipality to cover expenses occurred in that subdivision. A special rate may be levied when a council undertakes works for the special benefit of a particular portion of the municipality. Separate rate records are maintained for general, extra and special rates and these are therefore registered as separate series.For each rateable property a record is created which identifies the property and person rated and includes details of the annual value of the property, the amounts due, amounts paid, arrears and when rates were abandoned. A complete rate record may comprise two parts: a Register of Rateable Properties and a Rates Register. The Register of Rateable Properties identifies the properties and persons rated and the Rates Register comprises the accounting details. Where these two parts exist they are registered separately.The format of rate records has changed over the years. Initially the levying and payment of rates were recorded in volumes (known as Rate Books) until the introduction of cards (known as Rate Cards) from the 1930s. In the 1980's and 1990's automated systems have mostly been used. Printouts of the automated system are usually produced as the rate record. Series of rate records in different formats are registered separately.

每年，各地方议会均须就其市政管辖区内的所有应课税物业（rateable properties）制定并征收税项。《1854年市政机构法》（第26号）授权地方议会制定附例，以规管自身运作流程，其中包括税项征收工作。尽管存在法定上限，但税项税额仍由议会自主决定；而税项亦是议会的主要收入来源。税项记录是对各类应课税物业的税项征收与缴纳情况的记录。除面向所有物业统一征收的一般税项外，地方议会还可征收附加税项或专项税项：附加税项可在一般税项之外，针对市政辖区内的特定分区征收，用于覆盖该分区产生的相关开支；专项税项则可在议会为市政辖区内特定区域开展专项受益工程时征收。针对一般税项、附加税项及专项税项，议会会分别留存税项记录，因此这些记录会被注册为独立的序列。针对每一处应课税物业，议会都会创建专属记录，用于标识该物业及纳税义务人，并包含物业年度估值、应缴税额、已缴税额、欠款金额以及税项豁免征收时间等详细信息。一份完整的税项记录可分为两部分：应课税物业登记册（Register of Rateable Properties）与税项登记册（Rates Register），前者用于标识物业及纳税义务人，后者则涵盖各类会计明细信息。若同时存在这两部分记录，则会分别进行注册。税项记录的格式多年来历经演变：最初，税项的征收与缴纳情况以账簿形式记录，这类账簿被称为税册（Rate Books）；直至20世纪30年代，卡片式记录开始得到应用，即税卡（Rate Cards）。至20世纪80、90年代，自动化系统得到广泛普及，自动化系统的打印输出文件通常即作为税项记录。不同格式的税项记录序列会分别进行注册。