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Winning #Cash4Communities at the Local & Devolved Nations Elections

A short guide on how to use local and devolved elections to secure cash for communities, and make the case for tax justice.

We’ve pulled together this short guide on how we can all add our voices to the campaign for tax justice and an economy that works for everyone. It includes information about what we can do to influence national political debates, like whether the UK needs a wealth tax, during the local elections, and activities that can be done if you have a little time, or a lot more.

Councillors elected at local elections have limited powers to raise tax other than council tax, but they play an important role and can pass on residents’ concerns and the issues that matter most to their political parties, which can then be fed all the way up to decision makers in Westminster. Members of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly do have some relevant devolved powers in setting taxation policy, we will have extra tools, analysis and resources about these crucial elections on this page soon.

If a canvasser or candidate knocks at your door:

Give your opinion on tax justice and wealth taxes

Political parties have mechanisms to understand where the public mood is at. The messages they hear on the doorstep and in communities are an important part of the picture that feeds back into local parties, to MPs offices, and upward into the party machinery. When canvassers knock on your door, this is a perfect opportunity to feed your opinion about taxing wealth right back to the political party. 

When speaking to a canvasser you may want to say something like “It feels like things aren’t getting better, the super-rich keep getting much richer but so many people I know are struggling. I want to support whichever party is going to tax the richest more and make things fairer for all of us.”  If you can give a personal example— even better!

See our Talking Tax on the doorstep guide for more information about what to include in your conversations (with canvassers as well as friends and family!)

Got 5 to 10 minutes spare:

Write to candidates about cash for your community

You can email your council candidates explaining why taxing wealth more would help your community— and wider society— and ask what their views are on a range of taxation issues. We’ve built an easy-to-use tool that will help you write a custom letter relevant to your own circumstances and local concerns, and then fire off an email to each of the candidates in your area, asking them what they plan to do about the state of council finances, council tax (and reforming it), and taxing wealth.

WRITE TO COUNCIL CANDIDATES

COMING SOON WRITE TO HOLYROOD/SENNED CANDIDATES (WALES & SCOTLAND)

SHARE A RESPONSE WITH US

 

If you’ve got another 10 minutes:

Get involved in election conversations on local social media groups

You’re probably already a member of some local Facebook groups, a neighbourhood forum, a building WhatsApp chat, or a community page of some sort. These are some of the most effective places to raise awareness about what’s happening to local services, and make the connection in people’s minds between what’s happening locally and what’s happening nationally. The super-rich and vested interests have gotten away with skewing our economy in their interests, hoarding wealth, draining our communities of resources and making everyone else’s lives poorer, partly because this connection has not been made clear to people.

Local social media spaces are where people talk about the things that effect them; bin collections, bus routes, GP access, SEN delays, library hours, potholes, and everything else that shapes daily life. By posting in these groups you can tie them to the bigger picture of how wealth is taxed and how public services are funded, so others understand why these problems keep happening (so we can tackle them together).

Below are some template posts you can adapt for your own local groups or social channels. They start with a local issue, connect it to funding pressures, and highlight the wider fairness question around how wealth is taxed in the UK.

  • Seeing cuts to [local service] again is really worrying. Our council can’t keep everything going when it relies so heavily on council tax and shrinking national funding. Meanwhile, the UK has huge levels of wealth at the top. It doesn’t have to be this way. That’s why I’ve been taking part in the #Cash4Communities campaign and asking [local candidate(s)] what they’ll do to push for fairer funding. Will you help me get this issue on their radar: taxjustice.uk/cash4communities
  • People here are already stretched by the cost of living, yet councils are being pushed to raise council tax just to keep basic services running. Instead of squeezing households even more, we should be looking at fairer ways to tax extreme wealth
  • Council tax is based on property values from 1991 and hits lower‑income households hardest. No wonder councils are struggling to fund things like [local service]. It’s time for a fairer system that reflects today’s reality and helps protect local services.
  • It’s frustrating to see [local issue] decline when the UK is one of the richest countries in the world. Wealth exists — it’s just not being fairly taxed or fairly shared. Our communities deserve better. #Cash4Communities

 

If you’ve got an afternoon or evening free:

Attend a hustings event and ask a question!

Often there’s local hustings or events put on around elections, these are forums where you can ask questions directly to candidates in front of an audience— you will have to do a google search, or look in the local paper, or ask around to find out when and where. If you can attend one of these and ask a question, you can shift the whole local conversation.

Councillors elected at local elections have limited powers to raise tax other than council tax, but you could ask questions about their perspectives on taxing the wealthiest, council funding levels from national government, the outdated council tax system and more.

EXAMPLE QUESTIONS YOU COULD ASK

  • “Many local services — like [insert local service] — are under real pressure because councils rely heavily on council tax and shrinking grants from national government. What steps would you take to push for a funding system that gives councils the resources they need to protect services in our area?”
  • “Council tax is based on property values from the early 1990s and often hits lower‑income households hardest. Do you support modernising the system so it’s fairer and raises enough to protect services without placing more pressure on people who are already struggling?”

Let us know if you’re planning on going to a hustings, and if you do go, consider sharing a photo or message on social media about it and using the hashtag #CashForCommunities. You could also share councillors answers with us here.