West Midlands Council

Our supporters include those who run businesses operating in many industry sectors across the region as well as civil society. All of them support the TaxPayers’ Alliance in a personal capacity.

Paul Biggs, Regional Director, Association of British Drivers (ABD)
Alan Blumenthal, Managing Director, Suits Plus
Keith Bradshaw, Chairman, Listers of Coventry
Edward Carter, Regional Chairman & Director, Freshwater UK
Bill Church, Chairman, Carrs Toolsteel Technologies
Robert Edmiston, Chairman, IM Group
Greg Emms, Partner, Cobbetts
Con Folkes, Chairman & Chief Executive, Folkes Holdings
Carl Griffin, Folkes Holdings
Mohammed Hasan, Catalyst Associates
Nigel Hastilow, former Editor of the Birmingham Post
John Mellor OBE & QPM, retired Wolverhampton police officer and Chairman of the National Convention of Pensioners, Wolverhampton
Neal Radford, former England cricketer
Peter Roberts, Author of 1.8 million signature Downing Street petition against road pricing & founder of TravelTax.org.uk
Richard Smith, Managing Director, HR Smith Group
Rod Turner, Chairman, Whale Tankers Ltd.
David Wall, IM Group

Comments

[chris modd]

I heard a report on the radio the other day that Mr Brown might be considering a Danish style Council Tax with residents paying about 1% of the value of the property. With the current boom, that would mean (for me) an increase from just over £1200 a year to over £2000 a year.

Also I note that there has been much talk about how with Property price increases, Inheritance Tax has been kicking in (though I acknowledge that this may not be a huge problem yet).

The question I'd like to ask, in a simplistic manner I acknowledge, is "who says my property is worth......."

Surely I as the seller have the right to set the price of the Property i sell, so if I say I'm going to sell it (if I ever do) at £60, 000, then that is it's value.

Who's to argue? An estate agent. Without ANY cracks about the reputation of these good folk, who are they to say what the value of my property is? Unless I hire them to sell, in which case they become my agent and have to fix the price at what I tell them, then they have no authority to excercise any opinion.

Now most people when they sell go for the maximum amount, and I understand that. But for everyday purposes, surely the value of the property is still mine to fix.

So I'm going to sit back and wait to be shot down now, but Legally I am interested to know who has the right, the owner or a third party.

chris

[William Norton]

Chris Modd: In simple terms - an apointed valuer decides what your house is worth for council tax purposes, and if you sell it for a different price then that's quite irrelevant.

Presumably the same rules would apply if the UK adopted this Danish system, although it sounds as if there would be more regular valuations and the valuer would be seeking a precise figure rather than trying to place a property into a particular local band. There would, however, be anti-avoidance measures such as apply already to stamp duty which stops e.g. house being sold for an amount just under the stamp duty threshold but, say, the carpets were being sold for £100k.

It would be a sensible idea to use any real sale price for a year in which a disposal occurred, but probably too sensible an idea for local government finance.

You do however have the right to appeal against a council tax valuation, and in fact when banding was first brought in under John Major it was during the negative equity period and most appeals were for a higher valuation, because owners felt a low rating prejudiced their chances of getting a good price on any sale.

[Alan H Dale]

I have great pleasure in forwarding this item to my discussion group -- Musing with the Clean Party -- including politicians and academics of all persuasions who dare or who dare not venture comments to us!