Labour plotting £400 tax increase to average council tax bill for Middle England
LABOUR are plotting a “punitive” tax raid on Middle England that would add nearly £400 to the average council tax bill.
Tory Ministers leapt on incendiary Venezuelan-style proposals for a blistering new levy based on the value of everybody’s home.
Under the plans, detailed in a Labour-backed report, the council tax would be replaced with a ‘homes tax’ designed to force those with bigger houses to shell out
more to the Treasury.
The report signalled the new levy could be set out 0.7 per cent of the value of a home – equal to £374 on top of what the typical household pays in council tax.
Those with larger homes could shell out £675 more.
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said the proposal would “clobber local residents and up and down the country with tax hikes”.
And he stormed: “Time and again, Corbyn’s Labour prove they are the enemies of aspiration, and it’s those who work hard for themselves and their families who pay the price.”
He added the move would be a tax on home improvement – as the rates would be assessed annually.
'COUNCIL TAX HIT'
And he said it appeared the new levy would also take away the current 25 per cent council tax discount given to homeowners if their spouse dies.
Ex-Cabinet Minister Priti Patel said it proved a Jeremy Corbyn government would drive away business and enterprise.
She stormed: “Corbyn and his team are the biggest threat to our economic and political freedoms. His politics of protest and fantasy economic pose a real threat and challenge our country.”
Labour frontbencher Jon Trickett said the party would “consider” the plan, written by academics and economists. The work was commissioned by Labour to
address the “problems and injustices of British society”.
John O’Connell, Taxpayers Alliance chief executive, said: “The current council tax system certainly is outdated, but these proposals are punitive and wrong headed.
“A higher rate of stamp duty is already levied on the purchase of a second home, and the proposed offshore company property tax is also alarming.
“If these ideas become policy, they will hurt foreign investment and punish current and future UK homeowners.
“A Whitehall determined rate is also a recipe for cock-up.
The Labour-commissioned document, ‘Land for the Many’, suggested “replacing council tax with a progressive property tax… based on contemporary property values”.
The Tories said this meant people would receive an annual tax bill based on the current value of their house. By contrast, council tax is a banded, local services tax, not a wealth tax – and is not reviewed regularly.
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Labour’s document said the “progressive property tax rate would be based on regularly updated property values, and the rates would be set nationally”.
It could mean state inspectors estimating precise capital values by looking at the size of the garden and the number of bedrooms.
Mr Trickett, Labour’s spokesman for the Cabinet Office, had said: “Labour is committed to delivering a fundamental shift in wealth and power from the few to the many.”
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