Scrap Council Tax

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ISITFAIR CAMPAIGN FOR THE REFORM OF COUNCIL TAX
For further press information, please contact: Christine Melsom on 01428-712680 or E-mail c@isitfair.co.uk

7 March 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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COUNCIL TAX REBANDING INCREASES - THE REAL STORY

The following is a statement from Christine Melsom, founder of the UK-wide IsItFair Campaign, regarding the imminent effect of property revaluation and rebanding in Wales, and also the potential future impact on households in England and Scotland, where property revaluations will take effect in two years time.

"There is rapidly growing concern about the effect of the property revaluation and rebanding in Wales, which comes into effect from 1 April. Now that most Welsh Councils have announced their increases we know that one in every three households across Wales face massive increases in their Council Tax bills from next month.

"We were led to believe that the 'ups' would be balanced by the 'downs' in the Wales rebanding exercise. Now the cat is well and truly out of the bag!

"For every FOUR houses that have been moved up in the property bands, only ONE has moved down.

"Every household that has been moved up by just one band faces an increase of between 12% and 33% from 1 April based on Council announcements to date.

"Even worse, many houses in property hotspots have been moved up by two or three bands - for these people the increases are so high (some are over 70%) that the Welsh Assembly has instructed Councils to stagger them over 2 or 3 years!

"The people of Wales have been used as the guinea pigs for the revaluation and rebanding exercise, and many people who are already struggling to pay their Council Tax bills will now face even greater hardship as a consequence. How can we be expected to believe politicians who are telling us that fears of a similar effect from the revaluation in England and Scotland are unfounded?

"The present system of Council Tax is regressive - the less income you have, the higher the percentage of your income you have to pay in Council Tax. Many people now pay far more in Council Tax than they pay in Income Tax. The first essential step must be to stop using property value as the basis for this tax. Past or present value of property should be irrelevant to the calculation of tax for local services.

"We want a fairer system for everyone that takes account of their ability to pay. This will never be achieved by continuing to patch up the present system with revaluations, rebanding, increased means testing, or any form of discount.

"The present system of Council Tax must be scrapped and replaced by an income related tax which would spread the burden more fairly. In addition to making the tax fairer it would completely eliminate any need for property revaluation, means testing or discounts."

Anyone wanting to join the IsItFair Campaign can find more details at www.isitfair.co.uk

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For further press information, please contact: Christine Melsom on 01428-712680 or E-mail c@isitfair.co.uk

Issued by IsItFair Campaign, Headley, Hampshire GU35 8PJ

NOTES TO EDITOR

IsItFair is a UK-wide, non party-political campaign for the abolition of the existing property-value based system of Council Tax, and for its replacement by a fairer system based on individual ability to pay.

The campaign represents people of all age groups (not only pensioners) who are unfairly affected by Council Tax.

You can find more information about the IsItFair campaign at www.isitfair.co.uk

Data on the effects of rebanding can be found at www.scrapcounciltax.co.uk