Tories warned the government is looking at hiking up council tax “by the back door” for millions after repeatedly refusing to rule out punishing changes.
Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out axing the single person council tax discount (Image: Getty)
During the general election, Sir Keir Starmer and his team insisted voters were taxed too highly already and they had “no intention” of increasing the burden.
But the Prime Minister has since refused to say if the single person discount is at risk while ministers have failed to guarantee a number of other exemptions.
In response to a series of parliamentary questions about whether discounts could be overhauled and the cap on bill increases could be reviewed, Communities Minister Jim McMahon responded: “Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next spending review and local government finance settlement in which we are engaged.”
Ten ways Labour can increase council tax
1: Removing council tax referendum protections – an end to the right of residents to vote on excessive rises.
2: Council tax revaluations – regular checks on the value of a property that take into account the impact of home improvements.
3: Council tax revaluation and higher council tax bands – adding new categories to the existing system
4: Higher council tax multipliers – changing the way each band is calculated
5: Cutting single person discount – allowing councils to end the 25% reduction for people who live alone
6: Cutting council tax discounts and exemptions – reviewing all exemptions, such as homes that are in probate.
7: Higher second home and empty home premiums – increasing the 200% premium that currently exists on most second homes
8: Moving tax – failing to introduce second home premium exemptions for properties that are up for sale that were proposed by the last government.
9: Proportional property tax – changing the system to tax on the basis of current property values
10: Land value taxation – experts warn that this would put homes with large gardens at risk from being taxes as it targets levies on undeveloped land.
Critics warn that ending the 25% discount for people who live alone is effectively a “widows tax” as around half of claimants are pensioners and most of those are women.
In Labour-run Wales, the administration commissioned a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that said the 25% discount for single-adult households “encourages the inefficient use of property”.
A number of options that would hike up council tax bills by stealth have been pursued in Labour-run Wales but have now been put on hold until the next elections to the Senedd in Cardiff.
A revaluation of the bands each home falls into was ordered across 1.5 million properties in the nation.
Welsh Labour also looked at increasing the number of council tax bands from nine to 12.
The Welsh government also wants to use satellites to spy on homes to work out their new council tax bands to verify the size of houses and gardens.
Tories urged Sir Keir to be honest with the public about how radical the reforms could be.
Shadow local government minister David Simmonds said: “This raises some serious questions about just how far Labour will go.
“During the election, Labour repeatedly told the public they had “no plans” to increase council tax, but after less than two months in power they are refusing to rule it out.
“Labour should be honest with the public instead of fiddling the rules so they can hike up council taxes by the back door.”
