Council Tax Revolution ruled out

Published by: Channel 4 News

Council tax bands in England will not be re-valued during the current parliament, Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced - a move he claims could save families £320 a year.

Council tax bands in England are currently based on property valuations carried out in 1991.

The last Labour government's plans for a revaluation of 22 million homes in England were postponed after a previous exercise in Wales in 2005 had led to tax hikes for around one-third of households.

If the Welsh experience was repeated in England, families in homes moved up one bad, from D to E, would face an average council tax hike of £320 a year, Mr Pickles said.

“ we are setting their minds at ease and protecting the interests of the less well off, in particular, who were the hardest hit from Labour’s council tax revaluation in Wales.Eric Pickles MP, Communities Secretary”

In 2005 the Labour government decided to postponed, until after the next general election a revaluation of council tax bands originally planned for 2007.

Mr Pickles said: "We have cancelled Labour's plans for a council tax revaluation which would have hiked up taxes on people's homes.

Hefty council tax bills are a constant financial worry for many people.

"Today we are setting their minds at ease and protecting the interests of the less well off, in particular, which were the hardest hit from Labour’s council tax revaluation in Wales."

A Labour spokesman said: "The Labour Party made an unequivocal commitment that there would be no council tax revaluation in this parliament.

"This is a cynical and misleading manipulation of facts based on what was ultimately a routine updating of the Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) records."

Responding to criticism of intrusive behaviour on the part of some council tax inspectors, Eric Pickles also pledged that the new government "will protect the privacy of law-abiding citizens from intrusive spies in the sky and halt state inspectors from barging into England’s bedrooms and gardens."

“This is a cynical and misleading manipulation of facts based on what was ultimately a routine updating of the Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) records. Labour spokesman”

A spokesman for Big Brother Watch, which campaigns against intrusions on privacy, said: "The announcement is welcome and not before time. "We only hope this is just the first step on the road to removing the prying eyes of the state from our private property."

But the VOA said it was “absolutely not the case” that inspectors snooped on households. A spokeswoman said the agency had never exercised its legal right to enter a home since it was introduced by legislation in the early 1990s.

In June's emergency budget, the coalition government announced that some councils would be able to offer residents a two-year freeze on council tax increases in a bid to soften the blow of severe spending cuts.