MINISTER DISMISSES TORY COUNCIL TAX CLAIMS

FIRST PUBLISHED BY: THE GUARDIAN 

A SENIOR GOVERNMENT MINISTER HAS DISMISSED AS "JUVENILE" TORY CLAIMS THAT HOMEOWNERS WHO LIVE IN THE MOST DESIRABLE AREAS WILL FACE LARGE HIKES IN THEIR COUNCIL TAX.

Peter Hain, Northern Ireland and Welsh Secretary, rubbished the Tories' allegation that the government was planning to tax people in England for the neighbourhood they live in under a scheme currently being trialled in Northern Ireland. 

His comments followed reports that home-owners and tenants faced Council Tax bills up to four times their current level if they lived in areas with low crime rates and good schools. The reports said the current banding system would be scrapped and replaced with an annual bill levied at 0.78% of the value of each property.  

All 21m homes in England would be revalued according to their location, as well as size and features. Shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman said the government was using "Big Brother computers to hike taxes." "First, they want to log and record every feature of your home from double glazing to number of bedrooms." "Next, they want clipboard-wielding bureaucrats to have the right to inspect your home. 

Now, Labour intend to tax you not just for every home improvement, but also the neighbourhood you live in."The reports cited a Parliamentary written answer by local government ministers in which they say: "The market for dwellings may well be influenced by levels of crime and deprivation amongst many other factors."

Spelman said: "This is the hallmark of an oppressive and greedy government - finding ever more stealth ways to tax working families and pensioners, and trampling over privacy when it suits them." But Mr Hain insisted there was no such plan to introduce a system like Northern Ireland's where property owners are facing rates bills based on the value of their home.

"This is Westminster politics of the most juvenile kind," the minister said. "In Northern Ireland, we are introducing a new arrangement to replace one which is three decades old and clearly unfair to those on lower incomes. "The decision to base rates on the value of homes emerged after a period of consultation and had its genesis in the last assembly.

"It is tailor-made for Northern Ireland's different local government finance system and there is no read across for the rest of the UK." The Conservatives' claims surfaced as a review of local government including town hall finances by Sir Michael Lyons is expected within months

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX. 


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