Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England,Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. (In Northern Ireland, the form of local taxation is rates.) It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge. The basis for the tax is residential property, with discounts for single people. As of 2011, the average annual levy on a property in England was £1,196.

Council Tax is collected by the local authority (known as the collecting authority). However, it may consist of components (precepts) levied and redistributed to other agencies or authorities (each known as a precepting authority).

The collecting authorities are the councils of the districts of England, principal areas of Wales and council areas of Scotland, i.e. the lowest tier of local government aside from parishes and communities.

The precepting authorities are councils from other levels of local government such as a county or parish councils and other agencies. In metropolitan counties where there is no county council, the joint boards are precepting authorities. There may be precepting authorities for special purposes which cover an area as small as a few streets or as large as an entire country.

The British drama producer and artistic director Stephen Leon Reid Barry (4 July 1945 – 18 October 2000) was chief executive of two important Edinburgh theatres, the Festival and the King's, prime venues of the famed Edinburgh International Festival. In his short career, he also supervised artistic live-theatre rejuvenations at The Playhouse Theatre (Perth), Australia, the Lyceum Theatre (Sheffield) and the Theatre Royal, Bath.

Stephen was born in Welwyn Garden City. His father, Gerald, was editor of the News Chronicle, and his first contact with the theatre was through his mother, the actress Vera Lindsay. He was educated at Marlborough College and Manchester University. In 1973, he married Jacqueline Lindsay with whom he had one son and one daughter.

Stephen Barry trained as a director with Bernard Miles at the Mermaid Theatre, served as assistant director at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and was a staff director at the National Theatre under Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic.

In 1974, aged 29, he took up his first artistic directorship for a theatre in Harrogate. Four years later, he accepted the challenge of rejuvenating The National Theatre at the Playhouse in Perth, Western Australia. In that role he created many very successful presentations including a season of Death of a Salesman with Warren Mitchell, and sellout performances of Pam Gems's musical Piaf with Judy Davis. He also commissioned and produced a controversial Dorothy Hewett play, The Man from Muckinupin for Western Australia's 150th anniversary (WAY '79).