Terms & Conditions

[peterdelamothe]

It is interesting that all parties are piling ever more on to Council Tax markg. The increase this year was 5% average and of course the social levy. Some Councils like Croydon increased by 15%. Labour are looking at getting rid of the 25% single person discount….although whether that will be for top bands is not clear. One issue I guess is to to encourage single people living in large houses to downsize.

So add on the extra amount for top four bands as suggested in Scotland, this new policy and other proposals….it seems that Treasury are looking around for where else they can tax and raise new money.

What next? A garden tax perhaps? That was previously suggested. Unlikely. What is a “garden”? It would also be possible to justify an extra 20% across the board because of the lack of revaluation over so many years. Personally I would like to see extra bands at the top bearing in mind how many properties are worth £5 to £50 million.

One handy issue with increasing Council Tax is that you dont have to exclude pensioners. They have their own CTB scheme which Councils cannot reduce. I see the prospect myself that for many pensioners their SRP after tax will just pay their Council Tax, water rates and energy costs.