Topic: | Re:Re:Labour's Next Tax Rises - Revaluation of Houses | |
Posted by: | David Giles | |
Date/Time: | 08/02/05 11:45:00 |
Colin Thank you for raising this very serious issue. On Sunday an elderly friend, who is normally a staunch Labour voter, raised the subject of Council Tax with me. She told me that she and her husband have already found the rises in Council Tax siince 1997 to be an intolerable burden. Unlike many people in their nineties and eighties, this couple also have a mortgage to pay due to the necessity to borrow money in order to replace or repair the roof of their house. The amount of money paid by English people in Council Tax has increased from £8.8 billion in 1996-97, under the Conservatives, to £16.4 billion in 2003-04, under Labour, a rise of 86 per cent. This rise is many times the rate of inflation and has not been accompanied by a comparable improvement in the quality or quantity of local government services. In Wales, houses have already been revalued and an extra top valuation band has already been introduced. The number of households in Cardiff paying Band D or above has soared by nearly 50 per cent. A pensioner couple living in a small cottage in a Welsh village will have seen their Council Tax go up from around £800 to about £1200 a year in one year. The Government may think they can get away with this in Wales because Labour is traditionally very strong in Wales but even there they will be facing strong opposition.The Welsh General Election results may be quite interesting. For obvious reasons, the Government has not dared to revalue property in England before the 2005 election but the revaluation will take place after the election and we will be facing greatly increased Council Tax bills after 2007. |