No council tax revaluations in this Parliament

[milquetoast1]

I thought property value (for the purpose of council tax) was reviewed whenever a property was sold...

That would be pointless because the council tax banding is a comparative system. It would be unfair to tax somebody on his 2010 valuation, whilst his neighbour was taxed on his 1991 valuation.

 

Even new houses are given council tax valuations based on what it would have been worth in 1991.

 

All the system is doing is trying to collect taxes to fund £Xmillion of local services from Y number of households. It could be argued that a local income tax would be fairer, but for many years the tax has been collected on the basis of property, both domestic and business, values.

 

Because it is a comparative system, all that is important to know is that a property in Band D is determined to be worth more than a property in Band C, and so pays more taxes. I would argue that just because the value is based on the 1991 valuation, which is when this system was established, is not important as long as we are comparing like for like.

 

Of course, somebody living in a Band D house could be poorer than somebody in a Band C house, so the method is often said to be unfair. The argument is a non-starter for me, and they could apportion local taxes on the number of bricks used in the house as far as I'm concerned. People generally know the banding a property falls in, and what local taxes will be incurred, before they decide to buy or rent, and they can always move if they decide they want to pay more or less.

[truman]

That would be pointless because the council tax banding is a comparative system. It would be unfair to tax somebody on his 2010 valuation, whilst his neighbour was taxed on his 1991 valuation.

 

 

Ok..genuine question ..this was on a council web site

 

"..a material increase in value may result from building, engineering or other work carried out on the dwelling. In these cases revaluation does not take place until after a sale - so the person appealing would usually be the new owner or resident...."

 

Looks like any improvements are included when the property is sold...

[HeadingNorth]

Ok..genuine question ..this was on a council web site

 

"..a material increase in value may result from building, engineering or other work carried out on the dwelling. In these cases revaluation does not take place until after a sale - so the person appealing would usually be the new owner or resident...."

 

Looks like any improvements are included when the property is sold...

 

They are, but a property does not change its band merely bcause it is now worth £80,000 instead of £40,000, if that raise is simply due to the fact that house prices have gone up.

 

If a house has had an extension built, an assessor has to judge how much of the difference between today's sale price, and the 1991 valuation, is due simply to the fact that house prices have gone up, and how much of it is due to the extension having been built. The latter part can cause a house to rise in band, the former part cannot.

[milquetoast1]

Suppose, then, that under a revaluation, 100% of all houses in Sheffield would fall in band A, whereas 100% of houses in Westminster would fall in band G.

 

The houses in Westminster only pay, between them, enough council tax to provide for Westminster, so Westminster's band G would be about equivalent to Sheffield's band A. They would not end up paying twice as much council tax as we do.

 

To rub salt into our wounds, Westminster has the lowest Council Tax in the UK. So somebody living in a multi-million pound property in Westminster (£1375) will be paying less tax than somebody living in an average house in Sheffield (£1475).

 

[chem1st]

Do you think they'd change the bands as well? Are there any properties less than 40k now (band A)

 

Yes there are

 

But you'd still pay more there, than you would in Westminister