̈ɪbænd verb (Business World) (People
and Society) To
arrange (pay scales, taxes,
interest rates, etc.) in graduated bands.
Also as an
adjective banded;
noun banding.
Etymology: A
figurative application of
the sense of the verb 'to mark
with bands or stripes'; the noun
has long
had a corresponding figurative sense 'a
range of values'.
History and
Usage:
Although practised in areas
such as
income tax for a long
time, the
principle of banding
became topical during the
discussion of the
community charge (' poll tax') in the UK in 1990,
when pressure was put on the
government to
introduce a banded rate based on people's
ability to pay; the
new council tax proposed in 1991 included
this feature. It was also
applied to a
practice among some local authorities in the UK of
grouping children by ability, so as to
ensure that all schools
got at
least some of the brighter children. This
limited banding,
which would need legislation, would be
intended to
respond to complaints
about the unfairness of the lump-sum tax.
Economist 31
Mar. 1990, p. 27 With Downing
Street denying reports that
Mrs Thatcher had
herself now accepted that the poll tax was
unfair, the Prime
Minister has
already rejected
any plan for 'banding' the tax.
Financial Times 28
Apr. 1990,
section 1, p. 22
