COUNCIL TAX DODGERS PUT ALL BILLS UP £50

First published by: This is Money

Taxpayers are being forced to stump up an extra £50 a year to pay for Council Tax dodgers. 

650,000 people failed to pay Council Tax 

Up to 650,000 people failed to pay their Council Tax last year, and the scale of evasion by individuals and businesses cost the Treasury more than £1bn. This is the equivalent of £50 on average added on to everyone else's Council Tax bill. The disclosure brought an angry response from ministers, who accused councils of throwing money away and piling up unnecessary bills for honest taxpayers.

Council Tax is considered one of the easiest taxes to collect because it is hard to hide a home or mask its size. Yet the figures from the Communities Department showed that collection rates in England have not improved in the past three years. 


Inner London boroughs are bringing in less of the money they are owed than in 2007. Out of £22.1bn in Council Tax that should have been paid in the year to April, only £21.4bn was actually collected, leaving town halls £700m short.

This meant that just under one householder in 30 - roughly 650,000 people - got away without paying their bill. An average English Council Tax bill last year was £1,175. The highest number of Council Tax dodgers was found in London, where 4.3 per cent of householders failed to pay.

It is more difficult to collect the tax in London because of the high number of young people in the population and the large proportion who move regularly. However, there were also low collection rates of below 97 per cent in Yorkshire, the North-West and the North-East.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: 'Every penny of Council Tax that isn't collected means higher Council Tax for the law-abiding citizens who do pay up on time. 'Councils with an efficient collection service are able to set lower Council Tax bills for everyone or spend more money on frontline services such as bin collections. 'The new Government will be making councils become more open and transparent about the money that is being thrown away from not collecting Council Tax. 'Once residents know how much cash is being lost due to poor administration, they will demand action from their councils to raise their game.'

Mr Pickles added: 'It is important that councils are sympathetic to the vulnerable and families who are struggling in the recession, and don't overuse bailiffs. 'But a lot more could be done to improve the back office service, especially in inner-city areas which have the worst collection rates.' Business rates, which are set by central government but collected by councils, also showed a poor return last year. The amount of business rates due was £20bn but only £19.6bn was collected, leaving a shortfall of £400m. The collection rate for local business taxes have fallen by a full percentage point, from 98.8% to 97.8%, since the recession began in 2008.

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GOVERNMENT RULES OUT COUNCIL TAX REVALUATION DURING CURRENT PARLIAMENT

First published by: This is Money

There will be no revaluation of council tax bands in England during the current Parliament.

Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles have announce. Mr Pickles announced an independent review of Council Tax inspections, which he said would 'rein in intrusive snooping' by limiting the data gathered and stored about people's homes. 


The Communities Secretary said families in England could save up to £320 a year in local tax hikes from his decision not to go ahead with a revaluation beingplanned. But the opposition denounced his claims as 'cynical and misleading', pointing to a pledge in this year's election manifesto which promised:

'We will not hold a Council Tax revaluation in the next Parliament.' Council Tax bands in England are based on valuations of property carried out in 1991. Plans for a revaluation of 22m homes in 2007 were postponed by the former Labour government in 2005, amid anger over a previous exercise in Wales which led to tax hikes for many households.

Mr Pickles said the Welsh revaluation led to one-third of homes moving up one or more bands - four times as many as moved down. The less well-off were hit the hardest, with two-thirds of the hikes in homes that were originally in the lowest three bands, he said. If the experience of Wales were repeated in England, families in homes moved up one band from D to E would face a tax hike averaging around £320 a year, said Mr Pickles.

This would increase the burden of Council Tax bills which rose under Labour from £688 for a typical Band D home in 1997/98 to £1,439 in 2009/10, said the Communities Secretary. Meanwhile, the taxpayer will save up to £180m on the cost of administering a revaluation exercise, he said. An independent data audit of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will protect privacy and civil liberties as part of the new Government's agenda of dismantling the 'database state', said Mr Pickles. The VOA's inspectors assess properties' value for Council Tax purposes, and there was previously controversy over their collection of data on features of homes such as the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, whether it has a patio and whether it enjoys a nice view or is in a good neighbourhood.

Mr Pickles said: 

'We have cancelled Labour's plans for a Council Tax revaluation which would have hiked up taxes on people's homes.' '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. 'We are standing up for the people who have pride in their home, and calling time on Labour's state snoopers and surveillance state. 'Hefty Council Tax bills are a constant financial worry for many people. We are setting their minds at ease, and protecting the interests of the less well-off in particular that were the hardest hit from Labour's Council Tax revaluation in Wales.'

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70,000 HOMES 'FACING COUNCIL TAX HIKE'

First published by: This is Money

More than 70,000 households are paying hundreds of pounds extra in Council Tax after the government revalued their homes 'by stealth', it was claimed yesterday.

Stealth rise?  More than 70,000 households are paying extra Council Tax after revaluations those who bought homes that had been improved by the previous occupants have seen their bills rise by an average of £195 a year, said the Liberal Democrats.

Council Tax 'snoopers' have placed the properties in a higher band because of changes such as new conservatories, porches, extra bedrooms and parking spaces. Inspectors from the Government's Valuation Office Agency have moved 70,010 homes into a higher band since 1997 when the opposition came to power.

Statistics published by the Department for Communities and Local Government showed that nearly 391,000 properties had been revalued in the past decade. Of these, about one in five was moved to a higher band after being studied by officials - forcing residents to pay out more. Ministers insist that a Council Tax revaluation has been put off at least until after the next general election. They fear millions would rebel if their bills increased because they were moved into higher bands.

But last night, the LibDems, who uncovered the figures, accused them of carrying out the exercise by stealth. Local government spokesman Julia Goldsworthy said: 'With almost 400,000 homes being revalued, Labour's lie of putting off Council Tax revaluation is clearly exposed. Tens of thousands of families are being hit in the pocket.

'It's time that the Government came clean and either admitted that this stealth revaluation is taking place or recognised that Council Tax is not fit for purpose. Until they ditch this unfair and unpopular tax, families will continue to face unaffordable Council Tax bills based not on ability to pay but simply on the value of their home.'

Under regulations introduced in 1993, the VOA logs every structural improvement that takes place to a property. If the home is then sold, the agency is notified and can decide to carry out an inspection to determine whether it should be in a new Council Tax band. According to the LibDems, the average Council Tax bill is £1,146 and the average difference between bands is 17%. It means that under revaluation the average bill would rise to £1,341 - up £195.

At present, Council Tax bills are based on assessments of properties made in 1991. A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said yesterday: 'An increase in the value of a property would not lead to an increase in a Council Tax banding until the property is sold, and maybe not even then, as the value may stay within the range of the existing band.

'As we have said on many occasions, there is no revaluation of Council Tax taking place. Any claim to the contrary is absolute nonsense, nothing more than scaremongering, and only serves to make people, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, needlessly frightened.' Last week, official figures showed that VOA inspectors have already stored digital images of 1.6m properties and are collecting details of millions more. They are logging the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and conservatories as well as noting down details of attics, porches and outbuildings.

Critics claimed it was evidence that every homeowner was facing an invasion of privacy as the Government carried out the revaluation in secret. A 'training manual' for VOA inspectors says they must carry a 20-metre tape measure or laser measuring device, camera, clipboard, survey sheets, pens and pencils, eraser - and a personal alarm.

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MINISTERS DENY PLANS TO RAISE COUNCIL TAX

First published by: This is Money

The Government has denied it is planning to raise extra cash from millions of households with a nationwide Council Tax revaluation.

Threat: Many could be pushed into paying more Council Tax. The Government has quietly renewed a multi-million pound deal with one of Britain's leading property websites to access details of sale prices and floor plans of tens of thousands of homes.

Ministers had been 'caught red-handed' preparing for a nationwide reassessment of property values if they win the next election. Current Council Tax bills are based on assessments of properties made in 1991.

A revaluation would see millions moving into higher Council Tax bands and facing bigger bills. A Council Tax revaluation in Wales saw four times as many homes moving up a band as moving down. The contract between tax inspectors and Rightmove, which boasts the largest private property database in Britain, is understood to be worth around £2.2m a year.

Since 2005, homeowners have been putting their property on the market for sale without necessarily realising that tax inspectors at the Valuation Office Agency are collating data about each home. A 34-month contract with Rightmove expired last March after a Council Tax revaluation was put on hold by ministers in September 2007. The contract was justified by the VOA because it would 'help the agency's efforts in having a cost-effective and efficient conduct of the revaluation'.

But new Parliamentary questions have revealed the deal was renewed last November and backdated to March 2008. Last month, Communities Secretary admitted that the pledge not to hold a Council Tax revaluation only applies to this Parliament, leaving the door open to one.

Tory local government spokesman Caroline Spelman said: 'ministers have been caught red-handed secretly preparing for a Council Tax revaluation in England. This contract was signed in 2005 specifically to prepare for the revaluation.

'The only reason why it has now been renewed after it expired is to help with a revaluation. The public will be alarmed that detailed information on nine out of ten house sales are secretly being passed from estate agents to tax inspectors without the public's knowledge or agreement.

A spokesman for the Communities and Local Government Department dismissed the claims as 'disgraceful scaremongering'. 'This commercial agreement for publicly available sales information is nothing to do with any supposed revaluation,' he said. 'The contract with Rightmove has been in place since 2005, and saves the taxpayer money by reducing the need for VOA staff to visit properties.'

However, the spokesman was unable to extend the pledge not to hold a revaluation beyond the next election. Under regulations introduced in 1993, the VOA logs every structural improvement that takes place to a property. If the home is then sold, the agency is notified and can decide to carry out an inspection to determine whether it should be in a new Council Tax band. A spokesman for Rightmove said: 'The agreement allows the VOA only to access data already published on the Rightmove website, though it allows the VOA to do so in a more efficient and cost effective way.'

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4M TO LOSE IN COUNCIL TAX REVIEW

First published by: This is Money

FOUR million householders face Council Tax increases of £100 a year or more.

The estimate bears out the worst fears of homeowners in the South East that they will be punished for the rising value of their properties. Many middle-income earners in the South who live in Band D homes will pay an average of £270 more a year if their property moves up a band.

The four (4) million figures has been calculated by Sir Michael Lyons, the former town hall bureaucrat asked to find an alternative to Council Tax last year. His inquiry was shelved by the Deputy Prime Minister when ministers lost their nerve. The revaluation itself was also delayed indefinitely amid fears that it would result in large-scale tax increases. There has also been an outcry over the intrusive inspections bureaucrats have been empowered to carry out.

But an interim report from Sir Michael today urges the Government to go ahead with the revaluation in England - and tells ministers they should be honest about the fact that it will produce 'winners and losers'. His estimate means that four million householders' properties will be pushed up to a higher level in the bands used to calculate Council Tax bills.

An average Council Tax payer in England now has a bill for £1,009 a year. But those who pay bills on that scale for Band C homes in southern England would have to find an extra £112 if their property was reassessed as Band D. Many middle-income earners in the South already live in Band D homes. They pay more than their Band D counterparts in the North because, when the last valuation was carried out in 1991, their houses were already worth much more than similar northern properties.

Under Sir Michael's estimates, if their homes are pushed up to Band E they will face Council Tax increases of £269, up from an average £1,214 to £1,483. By contrast, many Council Tax payers in the North could see their homes drop down a band. That would benefit northerners already said by southern council chiefs to be paying disproportionately low bills.

Local government spokesman said: 'Sir Michael Lyons's interim report brings more bad news for the Government. Earlier this year, Labour panicked and postponed their revaluation for fear it would damage their chances in May's local elections. 'But this report only confirms what we already knew - when the revaluation does come, at least four million people will be hit with even higher Council Tax bills.' The warning of big hikes after revaluation undermines the Chancellor’s hopes of calming the Council Tax crisis by keeping increases next spring to around 5 per cent - still more than double the rate of inflation.

The Government has pumped an extra £1.1bn of taxpayers' money into town hall coffers to keep the bills down. A source close to the Deputy Prime Minister said there was 'nothing surprising' in the suggestion that four million householders would be paying more. 'By implication if we had four million people moving up, we would have had four million people moving down, because the intention was never for additional revenue to come to the Government,' the source said.

He said people could not continue to pay Council Tax based on 1991 property values indefinitely. Town hall money-wasters condemned HALF of all English councils are wasting money, a Whitehall spending watchdog warned yesterday. The Audit Commission said the authorities met only the minimum standards for the way they spent their share of more than £80bn a year. 

The findings come as the Government and local authorities argue over who is to blame for soaring Council Tax bills. Commission chairman James Strachan said: 'We are concerned that half of all councils are only achieving at, or below, what we consider to be minimum acceptable level.' The watchdog states: 'Internal control, how well a council manages its risks and has effective arrangements to ensure proper use of public funds, is the area where councils most consistently underperform.'Hull - home town authority of Deputy Prime Minister, who is in charge of local government - was among ten councils labelled the worst performing in England.

Some council chiefs believe the Audit Commission had been pressured by the Chancellor to make tougher judgments on local authorities. But the commission did find the Tory-run shire counties, which ministers want to abolish, were more efficient than smaller 'unitary' authorities favoured by the Government. Eric Pickles, the government spokesman, said: 'The shires are among some of the best performing councils, which makes the desire to abolish them all the more bemusing.' Christine Melsom of Council Tax protest group Is It Fair? said: 'All councils waste a certain amount of money but I think the majority of the problem stems from the Government and the shortfall in grants they give town halls.'

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COUNCIL TAX: A TREE HOUSE MAY RAISE BILLS

First published: This is Money

Big Brother: Ministers are working on the creation of a national house database

Ministers are building a database covering all 23m homes in England which will be used to calculate future Council Tax bills. Now the opposition say they have uncovered evidence that residents of houses which have garden buildings, landscaped gardens or even proximity to a village green would face increases.

They accused the Government of carrying out a nationwide Council Tax revaluation 'by stealth', though ministers insist the exercise has been put off at least until after the next General Election. Current Council Tax bills are based on assessments of properties made in 1991. A revaluation would see millions of people moving into higher Council Tax bands and facing bigger bills.

In answer to Parliamentary questions, a local government minister said a tree house could be taken into account during the banding of a property for Council Tax if it was deemed to 'add value'. Currently, revaluing of a home takes place only when it is sold or let for more than seven years. In the forthcoming revaluation, all properties will be reassessed, said Eric Pickles.

Wales has already had a Council Tax revaluation, which saw four times as many homes moving up a band as moving down. Ministers have admitted that Council Tax inspectors at the Valuation Office Agency intend to measure conservatories and log details of greenhouses.A special code will flag up 'positive' features, including 'proximity to open fields, a village green or extensive landscaped grounds'. Mr Pickles said: 'The English garden is one of the defining traits of our national identity. Now the Government has been caught red-handed cooking up new ways of taxing those with green fingers.

'Families face higher Council Tax bills if they saved up for a conservatory, greenhouse or a nice garden or just live near a village green. 'Council Tax inspectors are even going to size up and tax tree houses. Faced with the prospect of a higher Council Tax for a tree house, I fear cash-strapped dads, struggling to make ends meet, will be pressured into cutting down or dismantling their tree house. 'No-one is safe from the Governments tax bombshell - not even children.' Council Tax bills have doubled since 1997. A further inflation-busting rise of £62 a year on the typical Band D home is expected in April, taking the average bill to £120 a month.

Tax inspectors are amassing millions of photographs of homes and logging details of the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and conservatories. Official figures show they have already stored digital images of 1.6m properties and are logging details of rooms, attics, fitted cupboards, porches and outbuildings for millions more. Conservatories have been logged at 768,000 properties. A spokesman for the Communities and Local Government department said last night: 'It is ridiculous to suggest that adding a tree house will affect Council Tax.

'Band changes are made only once a property is sold, so no one will be penalised for adding a tree house or making improvements.'

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FIGHTING FOR JOBS AND HEALTH CARE - AND AGAINST SECOND-HOME COUNCIL TAX PERKS

First published by: The Guardian

Making a point - Tim Farron, president of the Liberal Democrats

This last year has been an incredible roller-coaster in just 12 months we've seen old dictatorships overthrown and replaced with a new age of democracy in North Africa, the potential downfall of Rupert Murdoch's media empire through the phone hacking scandal and a summer that saw rioting in some of the UK's biggest cities.

The BBC has labelled 'The year when a lot happened' which has a catchy ring to it... but of course they are right!  In Cumbria we've had our own ups and downs too. One of the highlights of my year was the opening of our new chemotherapy unit at Westmorland General Hospitalin Kendal. We've been campaigning for years to bring cancer services to the hospital and so this is a huge win for us as a community. It was proof that a community working hard together can make a real tangible difference to improve the lives of local people.

This is only half the job though and as a community we have since gone on to campaign further for a radiotherapy unit for the hospital and this will be one of my main focuses for 2012 to ensure that cancer patients across the South Lakes and Barrow have much easier access to the treatments they need.

Another successful campaign I've been working on is the battle to remove the unfair Council Tax subsidy for second home owners. Across the South Lakes we have almost 3,000 families who are on the waiting list for social housing, yet there are over 3,000 second homes in the area. For a long time I've felt that it is incredibly unfair that councils have been forced to give up to a 50% subsidy on Council Tax for second home owners.

Providing a tax cut for those who clearly need it least is ridiculous and that's why I was delighted when the Government announced this autumn that this enforced subsidy would be removed and Councils will now be able to charge full Council Tax on all second homes. In South Lakeland this could make a huge difference in the campaign to provide more affordable housing to families that need it most.

In 2011 Westmorland and Lonsdale has had some of the lowest unemployment figures across the whole of the UK. On the surface this sounds like a fantastic statistic; however, it does not take into consideration the fact that we have among the highest rate of workers on minimum wage across the whole of Britain. The average salary in the South Lakes is just £24,928 while average house prices are over £250,000.

We've gone someway to try and tackle this injustice with the removal of the second home Council Tax subsidy and back in October Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd made a successful bid to the Regional Growth Fund that will create up to 500 jobs in and around Kendal and safeguard a further 250 – a fantastic result for Gilkes and a fantastic result for the South Lakes local economy.

In government things have been eventful too – with the first increase in the lower tax threshold lifting over 800,000 people out of tax altogether, the battle to prevent the scrapping of the 50p tax rate and the ongoing efforts to turn around the Health and Social Care Bill to ensure the future of our NHS and undo some of the privatisation that happen under the last government. There hasn't been a dull moment and recent events in Europe, which have split the country down the middle, mean the next year is likely to be just as eventful as we struggle to rebuild our relationships with Europe and ensure we get back to the top table of discussions to ensure that decisions made will be in Britain's best interests.

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