Senior councillors have been warned not to talk about a secret Local Government Association (LGA) report that models what fiscal devolution might look like, The MJ has been told.
Smith Square’s city regions board appointed experts earlier this year to carry out detailed modelling of two instances of fiscal devolution, including the localisation of all or part of income tax.
The confidential report has been drawn up as MPs on the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee urge Whitehall to consider looking at the ‘potential merits of the apportioning of taxes, such as income tax, set and collected at a national level’.
However, one member of the city regions board said: ‘We were very explicitly warned that we couldn’t publish or comment on it at the moment.’
