Government rules out council tax reform - no matter how unfair it is

The government has ruled out any reform to the council tax system.

There has been long standing criticism of council tax because its application is based on property valuations that are over 30 years old, meaning tax levels relate only partly to today’s actual property values. In addition households in lower value properties pay a higher share of its value in council tax than those in larger properties.

Campaign groups such as Fairer Share have called for reform and one of that group’s leading figures - founder Andrew Dixon - has tweeted a government response to his demand for change.

On the X social media platform was the government response: “The government has no plans to conduct a revaluation of council tax bands. 

“A revaluation would be expensive to undertake and it would particularly risk penalising those on a lower income, including pensioners, who have seen their homes appreciate in value, and might face a substantial increase in tax without having the income to pay it. 

“It may also increase council tax for households where home improvements have been made since they moved in. 

“The government remains committed to improving the local government finance landscape in the next Parliament.“

There has been sporadic calls from across the agency sector for council tax reform. 

In 2020 Knight Frank stated that reform would be “a tough undertaking” but was needed, possibly in tandem with stamp duty abolition or change. In 2019 the then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for the scrapping of council tax.