Local government in Britain is the responsibility of elected local authorities, which provide local services under specific powers conferred by Parliament. Government on a local basis can be traced back at least 1,000 years, but this concept of a comprehensive system of councils locally elected to manage various services provided for the benefit of the community was first cooperated into law in the late nineteenth century. The local authorities' major responsibilities nowadays include education, housing, the police, environmental health, personal social services, traffic administration, town and country planning, fire services, libraries and many minor functions. There are 6 metropolitan local authorities, and Greater London and the remaining 47 'non-metropolitan' authorities, or counties. Each separate authority has power to levy a 'rate' (a form. of local property tax) to pay for the work for which it has responsibility. Rates are a local tax paid by the occupiers of non-agricultural land and building in a local authority area as contributions to the cost of local services. The amount paid by the individual depends on the value of the property in relation to the total sum needed by the authority. Total expenditure by local authorities in England and Wales exceeds ~9,000 million a year. A clear distinction is made between capital expenditure and current expenditure. Capital expenditure (about a quarter of the total) is normally financed by borrowing. Current expenditure is financed from three main sources: local rates, government grants, in the form. of a 'rate support' grant, and grants towards the cost of specific serviees; other income, including rents from local authority-owned properties. Housing and education are the two major areas for which local authorities are responsible. Each local authority area is divided into two districts—36 in metropolitan counties, 296 in nonmetropolitan counties. The heavily-populated metropolitan districts (e. g. Birmingham, population 1.1 million) have the resources to undertake provision of services such as education and personal social services which the majority of non-metropolitan districts could not undertake. County and district councils consist of directly-elected councilors. Broadly speaking, county councils have 60-100 members, metropolitan district councils 50-80 members, non-metropolitan district councils 30-60 members. The councilors elect annually one of their members as chairman. On certain district councils with historical status the chairman is called 'mayor' or 'Lord Mayor'. This has ceremonial significance, but makes no difference to the administrative functions of the area. Councillors are voluntary and unpaid, though they claim an attendance allowance of up to ￡10 a day. All county councils are elected at four-yearly intervals. The pattern of election to district councils varies. All local elections due in any one year are held on the same day, normally the first Thursday in May. The people entitled to vote at local government elections are those who are residents in the local authority area on the qualifying date, are 18 or over on election day, are British subjects or citizens of the Irish Republic (this will therefore include Commonwealth citizens, e.g. Australians). Candidates for councilors must have British nationality and be over 21, and must either have lived or worked in the area for a year. Most candidates stand as representatives of one of the national political parties (Labour, SDP, Conservatives or Liberal for the most part), a few as members of associations representing some local interests or as independents. How does the government work out the amount of the 'rate' paid by the individuals?