Waverley Council Tax Bills To Rocket After Election, Warns Cordon (South West Surrey Liberal Democrats)

South West Surrey Liberal Democrats <info@swsurreylibdems.org.uk>

Waverley Council Tax Bills To Rocket After Election, Warns Cordon

April 5, 2005 3:42 AM

The LibDems will scrap the Council Tax

Last month the Liberal Democrat candidate for SW Surrey, Simon Cordon, warned that Council Tax payers in Waverley were facing a bombshell after the election.

Simon had released figures that showed that Waverley could be hit by the Government's plan to revalue all houses for the purposes of Council Tax.

Simon's latest research shows that homes across the area will be hit very hard. The Government, supported by the Conservatives, plan to put any house up at least one council tax band if its market value is believed to be above national average house price rises.

Simon now says that Council Tax bills will rise by £200 or more because house prices have risen so fast in the area.

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.

Property prices TOMORROW will be the basis for Council Tax bills for the next 10 years.

Anyone whose home has gone up more than the national average (175%) since 1991 will be moved into a higher tax band. That means bills will rise by up to 22%.

Waverley will be hard hit because house prices have gone up over 200%, - 206% in Farnham, 224% in Godalming and 215% in Haslemere - according to the latest research from the Halifax House Price Index.

With this level of rise, homes could move up two, three or even more bands.

In Wales, where revaluation has already happened, some families will see their council tax bill TREBLE. That could be repeated in Waverley.

Simon Cordon said:

"Council Tax is unfair, and revaluation is going to make it worse. Just because house prices have risen in Waverley, local people will have to struggle to find hundreds of pounds extra in Council Tax.

"Both the other parties try and deny it, but they simply have no solutions to the ticking time-bomb of spiralling Council Tax bills. The biggest post-election tax rises will come from the Labour and Tory-backed plans for rebanding.

"The whole Council Tax system is bust, and it is time to scrap it. Liberal Democrat plans to replace it with a fair system based on ability to pay would cut the typical family's bill by around £450 a year."