You won’t go to jail for not paying rates. However, if you have a mortgage the council will simply instruct your mortgage provider to pay any outstanding arrears, including penalties. (And they will oblige – check the small print of your mortgage agreement). Most banks will also charge a fee for this service. And, as they take the money from your loan funding account, you may also be hit with further penalties for any other payments you then default on.

If you don’t have a mortgage, it is fairly straight forward for the council to get a charging order from the court, costs naturally payable by you. They will then follow the normal debt collections processes.

If you still manage to avoid paying, it is extremely unlikely that the council will apply the ultimate sanction of a forced rating sale. But if you ever want to sell the property, paying the rates will generally be a requirement of settlement.

So in short, don’t bother with the rates revolt – you’ll end up paying sooner or later, with the addition of penalties. (10% every six months is fairly standard.)

Increased tax is not the only way Government benefits from the creation of the CCOs. Currently Government funds rates rebates for low income households, based on total household rates - including water rates. Once water charges are transferred to Watercare, they will be excluded from the rebate calculation. This issue of allowing rebates to include water charges has been raised to Government, and the answer has been a resounding NO.

This is already the situation for Auckland City and Manukau, who currently offer a remission for affected households. Auckland Council may choose to adopt a similar policy but this of course will be funded by Auckland ratepayers, and not the government.