Do people in New Zealand pay any kind of council tax?

Question

If so, what does it pay for? Is rubbish collected from the house/ street/ other drop off point? Are pavements etc well kept and the general appearance of neighbourhoods neat and tidy or overgrown and wild?

Answer 1

Yes, it's called "rates".

The rates pay for the normal council stuff, such as street cleaning, waste removal and for more specific activities, including water resources and quality, air quality, climate monitoring, animal and pest plant control, hazard and emergency management, biodiversity, resource consents and compliance, land sustainability, transport planning and coastal and harbour management.

Everything is kept really nice and Kiwis (New Zealanders) look after their 'hood. There are not many around anyway so the litter problem is minimal. In fact, we tend to compare it to Switzerland at times.