London suburb
Originally uploaded by blackwine.
The Daily Mail has been running a campaign against proposals for a Council Tax revaluation. (article and editorial, 9 March)
At present, the Council Tax is based on the value of a house as it was or would have been in 1991, and so the valuations are badly out of date.
The Daily Mail is complaining that the valuers have been issued with guidelines about how to do the valuation; houses which are in good condition or have extensions, improvements, or attractive gardens, will be assessed at a higher value. So will houses which are near to a railway station or have a good view.
I am no supporter of the Council Tax and as a Brighton resident, I am all too aware of councils' ability to squander money through incompetence and hare-brained schemes.
However, the services they provide have to be paid for somehow, and around a quarter of what councils spend comes from Council Tax. What is the alternative? Surely not higher Income Tax and VAT?
It would be possible to avoid penalising improvements, extensions and the like by reforming the Council Tax so that it was based on site values only, but that too, the Daily Mail would be against. So what are they suggesting goes in its place?
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