Conservatives pledge to shelve council tax revaluation
Tories raise stakes over council tax
Wednesday, 20, Apr 2005 12:00
The Conservatives will shelve the next round of council tax revaluation if they win power, Michael Howard has said.
According to Tory statistics, bills have spiralled upwards by £270 per average Band D household in Wales, after the revaluation last April.
The last major re-evaluation of prices in England was in 1991. Then, the average UK house price stood at £73,000: it now stands at around £180,000.
But, the stated aim of revaluation is not to raise more money in council tax, but how to share the burden out between houses of different values.
The revaluation began this month, but any change in council tax bills will not come into force until 2007.
Mr Howard said under Labour millions of families have been hit by "soaring" council tax.
The Tories, he said, would reward families who work hard and as such would shelve Mr Blair's £1.8 billion "stealth tax" rise in England by cancelling the revaluation.
The Conservatives say households should not be penalised because of the property booms in some parts of the country.
The party says the Government is eager to collect monies from such families to fill an £8 billion "black hole" in the public accounts.
Ed Davey, Lib Dem local government spokesman accused the Conservatives of "naked political opportunism".
"But Michael Howard and the Conservatives have blood on their hands already and it's too late to dodge this. They invented council tax, they think it's fair, and now they won't even contemplate reforming it," he said.
"Liberal Democrats aren't just the real alternative on council tax. We're the only alternative."
On Wednesday, the Liberal Democrats will set out their flagship local income tax policy. The Lib Dems claim their policy would see the typical family's tax bill cut by £450 a year.
Labour has accused the Conservatives of "scaremongering" and dismissed the charge that revaluation will automatically mean a rise in bills for households.