Revaluation Council Tax Bombshell Ready to Drop

3.38.22pm GMT Mon 14th Feb 2005

Revaluation of Council Tax bands could add hundreds of pounds to local tax bills warns Mike Bell

Thousands of homes in North Somerset could be in line for massive council tax rises because of the threat of revaluation, new research has shown.

Council tax is currently based on property values in April 1991 but the government is updating its valuation figures to take account of changes in property prices since then.

Families in North Somerset will be badly hit, because house prices have risen so much faster in this region than in the rest of the country.

Analysis of the Halifax house price index by the Liberal Democrats shows that 81% of towns in the South West have seen prices rise faster than the national average, meaning homes are likely to be moved into higher paying tax bands.

Councillor Mike Bell, the Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Woodspring Constituency, commented:

"Many people in North Somerset are already struggling with their Council Tax bills because of the big rises forced through by the Government in recent years.

"Now local residents, many of whom are being forced out of the housing market by rising house prices, will face the additional burden of an even higher Council Tax bill.

"The government claims Council Tax revaluation will make the system fairer. But this research shows it will be arbitrary, random and unfair, with low earners forced to pay even more.

"People living in towns like Portishead, Nailsea and Clevedon and in popular villages like Long Ashton and Wraxall are about to be penalised for the market forces that have pushed up house prices in the region.

"In areas where prices have risen the most, homes could be moved up two or three Council Tax bands. Just moving up one band could add anywhere between £100 and £400 to a typical bill in North Somerset.

"The Government's failure to tackle Council Tax once and for all is storing up trouble for us all in future. Thanks to revaluation, millions of families will see their Council Tax bills rocket once the election is over, but ministers have refused to come clean about it.

"They should scrap the Council Tax altogether and bring in a fairer system based on ability to pay."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. The Valuation Office is revaluing all properties and will introduce new bands based on property prices on 1 April 2005. The bands will apply to council tax bills from April 2007.

2. The government has postponed the final decision on how rebanding will work until after the election.

3. Explaining revaluation, Government Minister Nick Raynsford said (12 October 2004): 'Only where the change in a property's value is significantly above or below the average is it likely to change bands.' The Liberal Democrat research was designed to establish which properties had changed in value 'significantly above' the national average and therefore face band changes.

4. Revaluation has already occurred in Wales, where 33% of properties were moved up a band, and only 8% moved down a band. Some of the poorest areas were hit hardest.

5. According to the Halifax, the national average price rise over the last year period is around 160%.

6. House prices in the Clevedon postal town area have risen by an average of 164%; in the Weston-super-Mare area by 194% and in the Bristol area by 172%.